Roundup: Canada's Harper on defensive in final full leaders' debate

With two weeks left before Canadians head to the polls, Prime Minister Stephen Harper came under intense attacks from his three opposition rivals in the final debate held on Friday.

As was the case in the four previous debates, Harper faced criticism about his economic record during his almost one-decade tenure that produced a string of budget deficits and sluggish job creation.

But this time, Harper, who leads the Conservative Party of Canada, faced more heat on several other issues during Friday's full leaders' election debate conducted in French in Montreal, Canada's largest French-speaking city

Tom Mulcair, leader of the New Democratic Party who holds the most House of Commons seats in the francophone province of Quebec, said that Harper was using his government policy of preventing Muslim women from wearing the niqab face covering during citizenship ceremonies as "a weapon of mass distraction" in an attempt to "hide (his) record."

But a recent government poll revealed that 93 percent of Quebecers -- and 82 percent of Canadians overall -- support the ban, and Harper noted those statistics when he countered Mulcair's position and that of Liberal leader Justice Trudeau, who also opposes the ban.

Trudeau followed Harper's line of thinking on public opinion to directly challenge him on the issue of abortion, which the Liberal leader represents a Quebec riding in the Canadian House of Commons.

Since a majority of Quebecers support a woman's right to choose, Trudeau asked the prime minister to state, "for the first time," whether he was pro-choice or pro-life.

Harper declined to answer the question directly and only said that his position has been not to re-open the abortion debate during his time in office.

The prime minister was as opaque on the supply management system of tariffs and production quotas, which is of major concern to Quebec dairy farmers.

Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois party, asked whether Canada's supply management policies that control the price of milk, cheese, eggs and poultry will survive the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, of which the latest round was held in Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia from Wednesday through Thursday.

"We will preserve the system," Harper replied.

What he won't do, however, is allowing marijuana to be sold in corner stores, a stance in response to Trudeau's position to control the sale of cannabis by regulating rather than criminalizing its use.

One more televised debate was planned on Canada's major English networks for Thursday, but Harper said he wouldn't attend.

Mulcair said he wouldn't either without the prime minister's participation, causing the broadcasting consortium to cancel the event just hours before the French debate on Friday. Endi