Commentary With polls indicating such a close race in the federal election, Erin O’Toole and Justin Trudeau both were surprisingly restrained in the second of the French-language election debates. Neither leader dropped any new policy stances and they stuck pretty closely to their talking points. They were more concerned with staying safe than with trying to score some sort of knockout blow in hopes of moving the needle of support. The debate format was interesting. It was tightly moderated and while some direct, leader-to-leader discourse happened, it tended to be short and controlled. Some questions were posed by guests and others by the moderators. Many were rather tough. A diverse range of subjects was covered. This is in contrast with the English language debate which will be limited to only five subjects. The first subject was on whether Trudeau would commit to a four-year term even if he wins a …