MONTREAL - The following is a translated excerpt from the French-language leaders' debate held Tuesday. It was provided through the broadcasting consortium that hosted the event:

Moderator: Here are the four leaders. First, Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party. Mr. Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Paul Martin, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and lastly, Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois. Good evening, gentlemen. Good luck. We will now begin with one-minute opening statements and Mr. layton will start.

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton: Thank you very much. Good evening. In exactly 13 days, you will have the opportunity to change politics and to make your voices heard, and it's time to say that's enough, enough of the corruption and the arrogance of the Liberals, and we must say no to the political games and the promises of the Conservatives, and we must ask whether the Bloc really produces tangible results. The focus of the NDP is to obtain real tangible results for Canadians. The NDP wants to work with Canadians, not for the friends of the Liberal party, and we must improve our public health system. We must provide seniors with the care they need and young people with the resources they require to succeed. It's time to give back to Canadians the respect that they deserve, and that's what we're proposing. Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Layton. Mr. Duceppe.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe: Good evening. The Option Canada scandal demonstrates that the Liberals and the Conservatives are not different. They deliberately misappropriated public money and violated Rene Levesque's legislation on public consultation. If the sponsorship scandal is a Liberal scandal, Option Canada is a federal scandal. Among the Liberals, current ministers including Claude Dauphin, Paul Martin's former right-hand man, are involved. Among the Conservatives, senator Nolin, the main organizer in Quebec, was one of the main instigators of the love-in, another entity that broke Quebec legislation. It seems when the hopes of Quebec are at stake for the Liberals and the Conservatives, the ends justify the means, which is why more than ever, Quebecers want representatives with integrity, representatives whose only loyalties lie with Quebec. With the Bloc Quebecois, there will be no compromises and no corruption, and that, that's the difference for Quebec. Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Duceppe. Mr. Harper, please.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper: Thank you. Good evening. This evening, I'd like to tell you about my aspirations for our country. Our platform's designed for ordinary people, not for the friends of the regime. My priorities are clear: clean things up in ottawa, cut the GST and taxes, crack down on crime, help families with the cost of child care, and fix the fiscal imbalance and health care. For the people of Quebec watching us tonight, you have an alternative to a corrupt party and endless opposition. The opportunity for a change of government doesn't come along every day. Our candidates are high-quality men and women with great integrity, and they want to represent you in a new government, a government that will benefit you and your families. Stand up for Canada. Thank you.

Moderator: Thank you very much, Mr. Harper. Mr. Martin?

Liberal Leader Paul Martin: On the 23rd of January, you will choose a prime minister. You will have a choice between two totally different visions of society. Mr. Harper has announced that he would cut the $1 billion in funding that has been set aside for daycare in Quebec, that he would abandon Kyoto, that he was in favour of the missile shield and the Iraq war. His positions are contrary to the values that Quebecers defend, and the Bloc could not stop this slide to the right. But I have a different approach. I supported the Meech Lake accord and the distinct society clause. Mr. Harper was against both. I'm in favour of a flexible and modern form of federalism. Since I became prime minister, I have reached approximately 100 agreements with Quebec. I want a Canada where people stick together. I am very proud of Quebecers. I want a Canada that succeeds with a strong and confident Quebec.

Moderator: Still on the theme of governance and ethics, gentlemen, a question for Mr. Duceppe. Before the sponsorship scandal, Mr. Duceppe, your party was losing steam. As you have often said, you asked 441 questions about the sponsorship scandal; now we have Option Canada, which provides you with fresh ammunition. My question is, where would the Bloc be today in a scandal-free Ottawa?

Duceppe: Well, you know, I've about asked this question since 1990 since I came to Ottawa. This happened - we were told that (the Bloc) was a backlash after Meech and that we wouldn't last long, and this is my sixth election. So I don't take anything for granted, of course, but we've been asking this question for a long time, and Quebecers continually put their trust in members from the Bloc Quebecois to represent them in Ottawa, and this represents something. This means that we are defending the interests of Quebecers in Ottawa and that Quebecers have put their trust in us. When you win an election in '93, '97, 2000, 2004 - and I'm confident we'll do so again this time - it seems to me that this gives democracy a meaning. Quebecers have a choice between us and other parties. Why do they choose the Bloc Quebecois regardless of what happens? Thankfully, we've been there to ask these questions on sponsorship scandals and on Option Canada, otherwise there would have been an alliance by the other parties to sweep this under the rug.

Harper: With reference to the adscam and Option Canada, all I can say is that the Bloc Quebecois was there, a powerless bystander. We worked with the Bloc before this election. We've worked with the Bloc to call for an inquiry into Option Canada, and that was enough before the Conservative party started to climb in the polls, but now we have an opportunity to change this government and to bring back accountability. I have to say, again, that there are a number of measures that we're going to implement. For example, we're going to give the independent officers of Parliament the powers they've asked for to keep our government accountable. We gave the auditor general the power to audit not just agencies and government funds, but also companies that receive public monies.

Moderator: Thank you very much, Mr. Harper. Mr. Layton on the role of the Bloc in Ottawa.

Layton: Well, as regards the role of the Bloc, you really have to question, does it attain tangible results? We've asked and we had carried out an investment of a billion dollars to meet the needs of Quebecers in the amendment to our budget. This is something tangible. It will help in public transport, social housing, the environment to meet the priorities of Quebecers. So that's what we've done. And there are things that you can do to improve the situation. Mr. Martin raised the question of rights of women. We supported the rights of women to make their own choices. We've always done that, and we tried to increase the number of women in the House of Commons, and we'll do that with proportional representation. We have 108 women candidates, 35 per cent of our candidates. Mr. Martin, I must say I find that your position on this is unacceptable. You've not moved forward the role of the file on proportional representation.

Moderator: Mr. Martin, your response.

Martin: The Bloc has to choose between separation and Quebec, and separation always wins out. Proof: Mr. Duceppe goes off to the Gaspe, the Abitibi region, the lower St. Lawrence and says, 'You have problems? Well, I will put some pressure on Ottawa and they'll help you,' and when the time comes to vote on legislation to invest in regional development, well, he votes against that. He comes here to Montreal, he talks about social housing, he says he's going to try to help, but when the time comes to vote in the House, well, he voted against social housing here in Montreal. He leaves the country and he says that it's important to be able to speak French in Manitoba, for example, but he doesn't want to help francophones outside of Quebec with their language and culture, which is what we want to do. The problem is Mr. Duceppe, yes, we know he loves Quebec, but each time he has to choose between Quebec and separation, he chooses separation. That's the problem.

Moderator: Mr. Duceppe.

Duceppe: I'd like to say I'm proud that I didn't support the NDP in the Liberal budget because both of them left unemployed people in the margins. I made the commitment, and I respected my commitment. I said if there's nothing in there for unemployed people, then I'm not supporting it. If the Bloc represents Quebecers in Quebec and Ottawa, it's because we demonstrate and express a difference, a difference shown in our culture, our expressions ...They cannot do this, the other parties.

Moderator: Thank you. Mr. Harper, the fight against crime is the major plank of your campaign. The reality is that there has been a decrease of 13 per cent in crime. There are (fewer) people who are murdered by guns, and now you apply a hard line. What are we to do?

Harper: I think we have to be very careful with statistics. There have been twice as many murders, for example, in Toronto this year. There are more and more neighbourhoods where you can't walk safely. We've seen in Toronto in a public place a young woman was killed in broad daylight when she was shopping. There's a very serious problem here, and we're going to solve it.

Moderator: Mr. Duceppe.

Duceppe: You have to look at the underlying causes of this. If you put more police officers on the street but there's not more jobs and there's not more housing and if I didn't support the NDP and the Liberal budget, it's simply because I made a commitment towards the unemployed to never support a budget where there was nothing for the unemployed, and I will never break my promises. So if there are poor children, then you can guess that it's probably because there are poor parents, and people without hope. There are some ethnocultural groups that have twice the unemployment rate, and that's unacceptable, and that's what we need to help fix.

Moderator: Thank you. Are you satisfied with Mr. Duceppe's response, Mr. Layton?

Layton: Because social housing can help the unemployed, that's clear, Mr. Duceppe. We don't have to learn anything from you about this issue, but what we need is a two-tier approach. You can't just take one part of it and then another part of it. What we need is a comprehensive response here, not just a simplistic response.

Moderator: Mr. Martin.

Martin: We have to work, and I'll give you an example. The social economy, that was initiated here in Montreal. One of our MPs worked very hard on that and now it exists - the social economy. It's a matter of taking the methods of small business and applying these methods in the non-profit sector, and it works wonderfully here in Montreal. It's a way for the federal government and other levels of government to work with local authorities. So you have to stop just talking. you have to put some methods in to effect to arrive at solutions.

Moderator: Thank you, gentlemen. We will now move to the issue of drugs. There are a great many parents watching and listening tonight who are worried about the issue. As you know, getting marijuana, and we'll just deal with marijuana for the time being, is child's play, especially in our schools. My question is to you, Mr. Duceppe, what should we do? Is the solution to decriminalize?

Duceppe: We support decriminalization for simple possession crimes. Very often, I've met with people, they can't go to the U.S., these are professionals, people who work in the film industry, they can't go to the U.S. because they smoked a joint some 20 years ago. We don't think that this should endure. We do think that there should be much stronger measures against organized crime, which is why we proposed the anti-gang legislation. When we launched this legislation, because people have been subject to organized crime, I've been threatened, the person who introduced this was threatened. I was threatened by the Hells Angels during the last campaign. We need to ensure that sentences for people who produce large quantities of marijuana, that these sentences be increased and we act strongly. And the burden of proof - we need to ensure that people who declare $20,000 a year and they have three cars and a condo down south, an expensive condo, they have to prove they make this money legally.

Moderator: Your position, Mr. Harper.

Harper: Thank you. We don't intend to decriminalize marijuana. I think the Liberal proposal is far too liberal. It would decriminalize up to 30 grams of marijuana. In our view, that's too much. It sends the wrong signal to the public. The increase in crime in Canada is caused by a number of factors including drug trafficking. It's important to have heavier sentences for that trafficking. The increase in crime involving drugs, gangs, organized crime, and biker gangs and handguns, these are all interrelated. Drug trafficking is a key part of this, and the public needs to get the right message on this.

Moderator: Mr. Layton.

Layton: Just one small comment, please, on the question of legislation for people with disabilities. I think it's very important. Peter Julian, one of our members, actually made this proposal, and we hope really that in the next Parliament that members from all parties will be able to act on the issue of people with disabilities. That's a very important issue. We support decriminalization of marijuana for possession of small quantities for personal use, but we need rules. Rules, for example, for the age of use, rules for the quantity so as to make sure somebody is not driving a car under the influence of marijuana, and we also need approaches in order to improve our understanding of issues related to health, health involved in the use of marijuana, and also strong sentences, strong penalties for organized crime.

Moderator: Mr. Martin.

Martin: Our position is similar to the viewpoint, small amounts, there was an agreement with the majority of the Conservative party regarding a small amount that could be decriminalized but never legalized. The problem here is the grow-ops. The people who are trafficking drugs should be put in jail. We want to do that. We want sentences, We really want to target those people.