6 of the spiciest moments from the federal leaders' French-language debate

Singh calls Blanchet "as useless as the monarchy"

Jagmeet Singh didn't hold back when going after Yves-François Blanchet during a heated exchange about minority governments and the importance of opposition voices in the House of Commons.

The NDP leader accused the Bloc of blocking important legislation and said Quebecers shouldn't waste their vote on a party that doesn't go to bat for constituents.

"Honestly Mr. Blanchet, unfortunately, in the last minority government, you showed that you're as useless as the monarchy," Singh said.

"You effectively did nothing for people."

Blanchet slams Carney and Singh's "Harry Potter budgets"

During a tense moment in the cost of living segment, Blanchet mocked the Liberals and NDP for making big promises without showing the math.

When both leaders responded to a question about what cuts they would make to balance the budget — after being pressed about not having released a costed platform yet — Blanchet cut in with some serious shade.

"These are Harry Potter budgets," the Bloc leader said.

"You need to do magic to make it work."

Singh's mic gets cut live on air

It was a night of interruptions, but Singh took things too far during another swipe at Blanchet, accusing him of wanting to slash health care. Moderator Patrice Roy tried to cut in multiple times. "Mr. Singh, I let you speak earlier," Roy cautioned.

But as Singh pressed on, Roy gave a countdown reminiscent of a kindergarten teacher warning a six-year-old to stop acting out.

"Mr. Singh, one… two… three," Roy counted. "Cut his mic."

In the end, Singh actually ended up clocking the least amount of speaking time for the night, with about three and a half minutes less airtime than Poilievre, who spoke the most.

Singh tells Poilievre he's "not special"

In a late-stage clash, Pierre Poilievre was touting his stance on crime, including his controversial plan to use the notwithstanding clause for harsher sentencing for multiple-murderers. Singh clearly wasn't impressed.

"Everyone agrees that we should have severe penalties for murderers," Singh said with clear exasperation in his voice. "That's not a point, Mr. Poilievre. You're trying to sow division where there isn't any."

"Everyone agrees that if someone kills someone, there needs to be a strong punishment," he went on, speaking over Poilievre as he tried to interject. "You're not special for proposing that."

Singh refuses to answer Rebel News — multiple times

During the post-debate media scrum, right-wing media outlet Rebel News asked several questions, taking up nearly half of Singh's allotted question time with long-winded questions containing disproven claims presented as fact. Singh had no time for it, shutting them down again and again for spreading misinformation.

"I don't answer questions from Rebel News because it's an organization that spreads disinformation," Singh responded.

When the reporter pressed on, so did Singh: "This is another example of why I don't respond to questions from Rebel News. Because you promote disinformation, and your question is an example of that."

When a second Rebel News reporter took to the mic, a similar scene played out. After the questioner introduced herself with her name and outlet, Singh immediately said, "You know where I'm going to go with this though, right?"

"Again, thank you, but I'm not going to respond to an organization that promotes misinformation and disinformation like Rebel News," Singh repeated after listening to the whole question. "So no, I'm not going to respond to your question."

Blanchet swats down Rebel News too — with a smile

Blanchet also faced a Rebel News question in his scrum — this one about pipelines. "I seem to believe that you already have the answer you want to write," Blanchet replied. "Your question seems to contain the answer."

Then, when asked again about polls suggesting Quebecers support pipelines, he finished the exchange with a broad smile.

"Don't you know my love for commenting polls? Have a nice evening."