Fighting to stay ahead of the pack before the first phase of the Liberal leadership campaign ends and summer holidays slow campaign recruiting, several candidates took whacks at their opponents in the weekend debate.

Joe Volpe fired a shot at Michael Ignatieff that stunned the room. Scott Brison shot back on Afghanistan at Bob Rae, who has really been attacking Mr. Ignatieff. Stéphane Dion took aim at Gerard Kennedy in a one-on-one debate. An audience member even jumped to the mike to complain the candidates don't speak French.

He reasserted his much-criticized support for extending Canada's mission in Afghanistan in a speech the day before the debate, seeking to seize the agenda. During the debate, he took pains to appear collegial with opponents even when they attacked him.

The sharper rhetoric comes as the first phase of the campaign is set to end. July 4 is the deadline for signing up new party members who will be eligible to vote for leadership-convention delegates. The summer holidays will make it harder for candidates to take their message on the road to groups of Liberals -- and Saturday's debate was the last before September.

Mr. Ignatieff has emerged as the early leader, with the support of about a third of the MPs in the Liberal caucus. His chief rivals were a little more willing to mix it up, except for Ken Dryden, who stayed out of the fray.

Mr. Volpe started the shots in his opening statement, responding to a speech Mr. Ignatieff gave Friday in which he strongly defended his support for extending the mission of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Mr. Volpe pointed to an article about the speech in The Globe and Mail and accused Mr. Ignatieff of making the case for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"This morning I picked up one of the newspapers and got a very strong message on Afghanistan. I looked at it, and I read it, and I've got to tell you I agreed with everything that was in it. Everything. Because my name is Stephen Harper," Mr. Volpe said, to dead silence from the audience.

The debate format left little opportunity for extensive, direct exchanges on the topic. But the debates themselves are becoming just the focal point for weekend wars that also play out in pre-debate speeches and post-debate scrums.

"I don't take lessons from anybody about being a good Liberal," Mr. Ignatieff told reporters, noting that Canadians are in Afghanistan because of Liberal governments.

Former Ontario premier Bob Rae argued after the debate that Mr. Ignatieff's strong support for extending the mission in Afghanistan has to be viewed in the context of his support for the Iraq war.

But Mr. Rae also took a shot from Scott Brison, the only other leadership candidate who joined Mr. Ignatieff in supporting a Conservative motion to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2009.

After Mr. Rae spoke of a memory of seeing girls ride their bicycles to school in war-torn Sri Lanka, and noted that the country is sliding into war again, Mr. Brison suggested he should have the same concerns for girls in Afghanistan.

Mr. Brison also sniped at the candidates who have attacked a mission started by a Liberal government. "Just because you're in opposition doesn't mean you check your principles at the door," he said after the debate.

After Eva Turcotte, a francophone Liberal from St. Quentin, N.B., interrupted the proceedings about a third of the way in to complain that candidates who claim they are bilingual don't seem willing or able to speak French. Mr. Ignatieff apologized to her on behalf of all the candidates. He also praised Mr. Volpe's employment-insurance ideas.

In a one-on-one debate on economic development in Atlantic Canada, Mr. Dion rattled off specific policy proposals, such as a call for a government-operated lender to help businesses that want to develop environmental technologies.

Mr. Kennedy responded by suggesting that Mr. Dion, who spent 10 years in cabinet, wants to stick with old policies. He said Ottawa must respond faster to local projects.

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