A look at key developments Friday on the federal campaign trail

“The NDP does have a plan to limit the interest rate that you can levy on credit cards”, Mulcair said.

“For women’s rights, where is the inquiry on missing and murdered aboriginal women?” What is the impact of the niqab on climate change?

It’s unfortunate that Green Party leader Elizabeth May’s French wasn’t better.

They targeted his positions on everything from pipelines and national unity to the boiling debate about whether Islamic face coverings like the niqab should be outlawed at citizenship ceremonies.

“He is against the niqab during oaths; that happens once in a lifetime, just once”, Duceppe said of the prime minister. We want neighbourhoods that are safe.

Harper: “Right now, all sectors, except the energy sector, principally, are on the rise”.

Some have suggested that the Bloc could be shut out completely in the October. 19 vote, an outcome that might leave the Bloc’s survival in question.

Le Devoir this week published a front page photo of NDP candidate Anne Lagacé Dowson’s vandalized campaign sign depicting her wearing a niqab.

However, if Harper can sway the Governor General, we could see history repeat itself.

Mulcair: “Because these companies need infrastructure like roads and bridges, they must start to pay their fair share in taxes”.

Trudeau said Harper has failed veterans and hasn’t provided enough money for front-line military resources, especially for the Royal Canadian Navy. It’s worse, the CIBC says the quality of work is the precarious, the worst it’s been in a generation. “Mr. Harper believes in decision-based fact making”.

We will restore the Promart and Trade Routes worldwide cultural promotion programs that Harper cut, and increase funding to $25 milllion per year.

Stephen Harper will remain in Quebec today to target a riding the Conservatives lost in 2011 by a mere nine votes after a recount.

Trudeau: “The Liberal party supports this because we understand to what it’s important to protect the most vulnerable, but also respect the rights and liberties of all”.

Now, neither Harper nor the Conservatives are very popular in Quebec.

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell”, said Mulcair.

If this federal election spawns a similar situation, we are left to wonder whether Harper would go “to the well again” and seek to prorogue Parliament till many of their present troubles begin to go away.

Harper, who has called it “offensive” to cover one’s face while taking the citizenship oath, said people should not hide their identities when joining the Canadian family. “This must change”. He announced a Conservative government will introduce what he called tax lock legislation.

The leaders kept a low profile in the hours before the debate, though Trudeau held a photo-op with his wife and their three children playing in a park. These were the rules in 1980 and 1995 referendums; I was there.

Following Thursday’s event, the NDP leader said Trudeau was highlighting only a portion of a much longer public discussion on the issue at the time. Trudeau said the Conservatives are great at “ribbon cuttings and announcements…this government talks a good game but has completely let down” immigrants. For me, I follow the Supreme Court of Canada…

He warned it could lead to the Constitution being ripped apart by a single vote and described Mulcair’s position as worrying for someone who wants to be Canada’s prime minister.

Mulcair: “Completely false … pure invention …” Crucially, Duceppe also agrees with Mulcair on the mechanics of Quebec secession.

A poll taken in March as debate over the matter reached a fever pitch showed 82 percent of Canadians supported the ban.

I guess you could chalk it up to a victory for traditional debate media.

Those dynamics were already in evidence at last week’s debate on the economy.