Canadian news of the day: Campaign event for Jagmeet Singh delayed because of broken down poutine truck

MONTREAL (CityNews) – A campaign event for federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was delayed on Thursday because a key piece of equipment wasn’t available.

Singh was supposed to serve poutine to people attending, but the food truck broke down on the way to the event.

Our camera operator at @CityNewsMTL got some shots of the NDP poutine truck that broke down before a photo-op for leader @theJagmeetSingh. It had to be towed away.
The first event was scrapped but hearing the one at 1pm is still expected to go ahead. #cdnpoli #Elxn44 pic.twitter.com/XNv9kt7OOa

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) September 2, 2021

Despite the cancellation of the event at 9:00 a.m., it was rescheduled for later in the day.

Meanwhile, the first televised debate of the federal election campaign takes place tonight.

READ MORE: 4 leaders square off in first televised debate of federal election campaign

Only four leaders – the Liberals’ Justin Trudeau, the Conservatives’ Erin O’Toole, the Bloc Quebecois’ Yves-Francois Blanchet and the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh will face off.

The Green party’s Annamie Paul and the Peoples’ party’s Maxime Bernier were not invited to participate.

The French debate on TVA, one of Quebec’s most-watched networks, comes at the mid-point of the campaign and could prove crucial to the outcome on Sept. 20.

The TVA debate is in addition to two official debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission. The official debates are scheduled to take place next week – in French on Sept. 8 and in English on Sept. 9.

Paul will participate in those debates, but Bernier, who didn’t meet the independent commission’s criteria for participation, will not.