The Star’s Tonda MacCharles and Bruce Campion-Smith took reader questions about the election Thursday afternoon.

MacCharles and Campion-Smith are senior reporters in the Star’s Ottawa Bureau covering federal politics and public policy on Parliament Hill.

“How wounded is the Liberal Campaign” from blackface and other scandals, asked one reader.

“Obviously it’s damaging at many levels. For starters, there’s the hurt caused by the impact of the images. There’s the political damage to Trudeau and his party, which put them on the defense,” Campion-Smith replied. “The question is how this damage plays out on election day and whether it’s enough to make Canadians — a few or many — change their vote.”

In one interesting comment, a reader posed a hypothetical: If a minority governement with the Conservatives or Liberals had to vote on a pipeline, would those two parties end up supporting each other to get it passed?

“Certainly both the Liberals and Conservatives favour a pipeline project to get Alberta oil to market so theoretically what you suggest might happen,” Campion-Smith said. “Politically, I don’t see it happening. The Greens and New Democrats are adamant in their opposition.”

Are candidates more hostile in recent times? “Election campaigns can get pretty vicious,” MacCharles replied. “To some extent, ‘twas ever thus. But perhaps this feels worse because when candidates sling accusations back and forth, the hostilities are echoed and amplified on social media.”

Read the full Q&A below.