The refugee crisis quickly became the central campaign issue this week, as a photo of a dead Syrian boy who drowned off the coast of Turkey caught the worldâs attention.
Here's an overview of the week:
MONDAY
After an 18-month investigation, the over to Crown prosecutors, ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝ learned at the start of the week.
But economic issues dominated questions to the federal party leaders, as Canada waited for official word on whether the countryâs economy had contracted.
TUESDAY
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau had been hammering away at Conservative Leader Stephen Harper for weeks on whether Canada had been hit by a recession. Finally, Statistics Canada released its report Tuesday.
Despite positive growth in June, â a âtechnical recession.â
Harper avoided the r-word, instead focusing on the 0.5 per cent GDP growth in June. He urged voters to âstay the course.â
WEDNESDAY
As waves of refugees fled Syria and Iraq for Europe, hoping to escape the violence wrought by ISIS, Canadaâs own process for admitting refugees was put under the microscope. Mulcair and Trudeau to accelerate the process.
âMr. Harper has failed,â Mulcair told reporters in Kamloops, B.C. âConservatives canât be trusted on this.â
âThis is the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. The images are horrific.â
Trudeau said he had implored Harper months ago to not only live up to his promise to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees, but to increase the commitment to 25,000.
Harper said Canada was committed to bringing in refugees, but the migrant crisis would continue until ISIS was stopped.
âAnd thatâs what weâre doing,â he said.
THURSDAY
Growing concern over the refugee crisis hit home , a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned off the coast of Turkey, spread across Canada. The boyâs aunt lived in British Columbia and other members of the Kurdi family had hoped to settle here.
Harper fired back at Mulcair and Trudeau,
âI do not know how, for the life of me, you look at that picture and you say: âYeah, we want to help that family, but we want to walk away from ⌠the military mission thatâs trying to prevent ISIS from killing tens of millions of people,â Harper told reporters Thursday.
âI donât know how for the life of me you reach that kind of a conclusion.â
Mulcair said the image of Alan Kurdi should be a turning point for the world, not just Canada.
âItâs too easy to start assigning blame,â he said. âThe international community has failed. Canada has failed.â
FRIDAY
Talk of the refugee crisis expanded into .
Mulcair took aim at Harperâs remarks, maintaining that the bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq was not the right priority for helping migrants desperate to escape.
"When I hear the answers from the prime minister, saying, 'Well, more war is the solution,' well, no amount of military action would have saved that child on that beach," Mulcair said of Alan Kurdi.
"Let's start acting to save lives immediately. Canada's done it in the past and we can do it again."
Harper called that response a âcop out.â
"It is deeply wrong and it is out of step with what Canadians believe," Harper said.
Trudeau focused on the bureaucratic red tape that blocked or delayed refugees from reaching Canada.
"There's been a bit of a catch-22 that the UN can't designate someone until they're accepted in Canada, and that they can't be accepted in Canada until the UN designates them," Trudeau said.
"It is more likely more complex than that, but I think it is very clear that what is needed in this case is for leadership in our country that stands up and says we want to start accepting tens of thousands of refugees in an immediate way."