OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives were true to their fractious institutional history Sunday in a televised leadership debate that stopped just short of outright hostility among the seven contenders.

For political junkies, the free-flowing, two-hour debate at the University of Ottawa was a refreshing hit after the tamer NDP leadership race this winter and the stagnant Liberal campaign that has yet to take life. More importantly, the Tory spitting match could provide the broader public with a true diversity of viewpoints on some of the most contentious issues of the day.

Canada's role in the looming war on Iraq, public versus private health care, economic integration with the United States and decriminalization of marijuana were just some of the subjects that had the potential successors of Tory Leader Joe Clark poking each other in the eye with rhetorical sticks.

Quebec MP Andre Bachand, the most recent candidate to join the race, got a roar from about 200 partisans in the auditorium when he compared the debate favourably to those of the New Democrats.

"More action, eh?" said Bachand.

After a slow start, the campaign has attracted seven candidates with addresses from the Maritimes to Alberta: Conservative MPs Bachand, Scott Brison and Peter MacKay; septugenarian former cabinet minister Heward Grafftey; Saskatchewan farmer and environmentalist David Orchard; one-time Reform party candidate and Christian lobbyist Craig Chandler; and Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice.

Bachand conceded in an interview the diversity of the candidates could leave some scars.

"Yes, unfortunately, there's going to be some animosity in the weeks to come," said the lone Quebec Tory in the Commons.

"But hopefully people will understand that animosity is the picture of the day. The big picture is to win government and we need to be together."

That could prove a challenge if future debates - the party hopes to hold at least three more before the new leader is chosen May 31 in Toronto - get any more raucous.

MacKay, the son of a Mulroney-era cabinet minister, is widely considered the popular front-runner and he was on the receiving end of a number of barbs Sunday.

"The question asked was whether you are the status quo candidate because that's the reputation you have in this race," Prentice challenged MacKay at one point.

MacKay called the assertion "a cheap shot" and added "don't believe everything you read in the press, Jim. You'll learn that," - a dig at Prentice's lack of elected experience.

Prentice, not to be put off, responded that the party knows "the status quo can't win. The status quo has lost the last three elections."

MacKay was also taken to task by several other candidates when he took a hard line on decriminalizing marijuana.

"I'm concerned about the slippery slope," said MacKay, promping Grafftey to blurt out: "Oh, give me a break!"

When Brison pointed out that cigarettes and booze pose proven health risks but are legal, MacKay shot back, "Then maybe you should stop smoking and drinking," - a sly shot at Brison's hard-partying reputation.

MacKay also got a reaction when he asserted Canada should "stand with our allies . . . against tyranny, against human rights violations and against a madman (in Iraq)."

"Where do you draw the line?" asked Orchard, saying any attack on Iraq without UN sanction would be a breach of international law.

Chandler, who advocated private medicine, closer economic ties to the U.S. and a merger with the Canadian Alliance party, provided the rant of the day when he lamented "the anti-Alliance, anti-co-operation, head-in-the-sand . . . egomaniac, regional, do-it-my-way, small-tent, narrow-mindedness that I've seen in other candidates."

He was staring at MacKay as he spoke.

"They may want to take a run at me," the 36-year-old MacKay said after the debate.

"I'm going to stay on the high road. We'll meet fewer people there, but that's where my campaign will be."

The next debate is tentatively scheduled for March 30 in Montreal.