Canada PM Trudeau portrays main rival as weak in key leaders' debate

Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole speaks during a news conference after the second of three two-hour debates ahead of the September 20 election, at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Blair Gable

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, facing potential defeat in a Sept. 20 election, on Thursday used a key leaders' debate to take aim at his main rival, portraying him as weak and ineffective.

Polls show Erin O'Toole's Conservative Party has a chance of winning the election and ending six years of Liberal rule. Trudeau called the vote two years early as a referendum on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.