Prime Minister Mark Carney said the key question in Canada’s upcoming election is who is best to deal with Donald Trump as he faced his Conservative rival in a French-language leaders’ debate on Wednesday.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said during the debate Canada needs change after a decade of Liberal party rule and Carney is just like his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. Carney responded: “Mr Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau. I’m not Justin Trudeau either. In this election the question is who is going to face Mr Trump.”

The exchange was the first between the two men since Carney was elected Liberal leader in March.

Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has bolstered Carney’s Liberal party poll numbers ahead of the 28 April vote.

The debate took place in Montreal, the largest city in predominantly French-speaking Quebec. The province has 78 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons and is usually regarded as one of the keys to victory.

Poilievre is imploring Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term. He hoped to make the election a referendum on Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became Liberal party leader and prime minister after a party leadership race.

When asked about Trudeau at a news conference after the debate, Carney said: “One of the differences, there are many, but one of the differences between the two of us is that I put much more emphasis on the economy, on growing the economy.

“In fact in this circumstance that we are in, given the scale of the crisis, I would say relentless focus on growing the economy.”

Yves-François Blanche of the separatist Bloc Québécois, whose party is losing support to Carney’s Liberals in Quebec, agreed with the Conservatives’ call for change, saying the Liberals are the same party, the same ministers and the same lawmakers and a new leader does not change that.

But public opinion too has changed. In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll released on Wednesday, the Liberals led by eight percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.

The French debate was moved up by two hours to minimise a conflict with a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. The NHL team faced off against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7pm ET, in a game that could clinch them a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This isn’t the first time NHL hockey has elbowed its way onto the campaign trail. During the 2011 election, former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe asked for a debate to be postponed due to a Canadiens hockey game, and his request was granted.

The English language debate is being held on Thursday evening.

With Associated Press and Reuters