The five federal political party leaders are getting ready to square off in round two tonight, with the English-language debate set to take place in Ottawa.
Last night's televised French-language event saw Conservative Leader Stephen Harper targeted by his four opponents mainly over his policies on the economy and the environment.
Harper will be looking to turn the tables in tonight's English language debate and New Democrat leader Jack Layton and Green Party leader Elizabeth May are likely to pull off a stronger showing when debating in their native language.
A post-debate La Presse poll in Quebec found most people who watched the debate felt Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe and Liberal leader Stephane Dion came out as the winners.
CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said the roundtable format of the debates plays well for Dion.
"This is a setting that works very well for him rather than standing at a podium and having people shoot at him," Fife said.
"He has some language difficulties but the expectations are low of him and I think Canadians will see a side of Stephane Dion that they haven't seen during this campaign."
Fife said "Dion's challenge is to be able to come out punching very hard without sounding angry and to show a side of himself to Canadians that he's not a weak leader."
Meanwhile, Harper will have to deliver a stronger message in the English debate than he did Wednesday night, Fife said.
Both NDP leader Jack Layton and Duceppe slammed Harper early on, calling him a clone of U.S. President George Bush.
They said Harper's policies could lead Canada into a financial disaster similar to the one south of the border.
"He's the frontrunner and everybody's ganging up on him and that's the challenge for him to be able to score," Fife said.
Harper needs to make the case that he's the stronger manager for these difficult economic times, he said.
Meanwhile, Layton needs to demonstrate that "he's a better opposition leader than Stephane Dion" and stop saying he's going to become prime minister, Fife said.
As for May, he praised her performance in the French debate.
"She'll do really well tonight too, she's passionate and she's not afraid of getting in the prime minister's face and I think she gets under his skin," he said.
