TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday who is best to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump is the key question in Canada's election while his Conservative rival argued Carney doesn't represent change after a decade of Liberal Party rule.

Opposition Conservative Pierre Poilievre said during the French-language leaders’ debate Canada needs change and Carney is just like his predecessor Justin Trudeau.

“Mr. Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau. I’m not Justin Trudeau either. In this election the question is who is going to face Mr. Trump," Carney said.

Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has bolstered Liberal Party poll numbers ahead of the April 28 vote.

Poilievre is imploring Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term. He hoped to make the election a referendum on Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became Liberal party leader and prime minister after a party leadership race.

“We need change. You do not embody change,” Poilievre said to Carney.

Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanche, whose party is losing support to Carney's Liberals in Quebec, agreed, saying the Liberals are the same party, the same ministers and the same lawmakers and a new leader does not change that.

But public opinion has changed. In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll released Wednesday, the Liberals led by 8 percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.

The French debate was moved up by two hours to minimize a conflict with a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. The NHL team faced off against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. ET, in a game that could clinch them a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This isn’t the first time NHL hockey has elbowed its way onto the campaign trail. During the 2011 election, former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe asked for a debate to be postponed due to a Canadiens hockey game, and his request was granted.

The English language debate is Thursday evening.