Stephen Harper’s record on the economy came under fire on Thursday night as leaders of the Liberal, NDP and Green parties took turns blaming him for the country’s recent economic woes.

In what was the first debate of the 2015 federal election campaign, Tom Mulcair, Elizabeth May and Justin Trudeau each took shots at Harper’s decision to hand out a bevy of tax cuts amid a sagging economy and blamed him for refusing to take real steps to right the economy.

“He (Harper) continues to try to tell people to stay the course but people at home know that this economy is not working for them,” Trudeau said. “We have to strengthen the middle class but Mr. Harper has continued to give tax breaks to the wealthiest. Canadians are looking for better approach and a better plan for the economy.”

During a heated opening segment of the debate, which was moderated by Paul Wells, Trudeau, Mulcair and May threw out a number of statistics suggesting that Canada’s economy has been on the decline under Harper while the Prime Minister brushed aside the criticism, stating that the country’s economic challenges are limited to the energy sector.

“Let’s be clear we have the lowest debt levels in the G7 by a country mile,” Harper said. “No government has opened up trade opportunities for Canadian companies and Canadian workers like this government.”

At one point during the debate Mulcair took aim at Harper, reminding him that during the 2008 campaign he denied that the country was in a recession despite the fact that a worldwide economic crisis was well underway.

Mulcair then quipped that Harper has “the worst job creation record since World War II” and is “the only PM in history who “when asked about the recession gets to say which one.”

“Honestly, Mr. Harper we really can’t afford another four years of you,” the NDP leader said.

Environment, foreign policy also discussed

The two-hour debate, which was hosted by Maclean’s magazine at City TV’s Dundas Street studios, also touched on the environment, foreign policy and senate reform and much like on the economy Harper found himself under attack.

At one point while Harper was listing off his government’s alleged accomplishments on the environmental file and noting that his government was “the first” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while growing the economy, Trudeau shouted out “Mr. Harper, nobody believes you.”

May then interjected to question Harper’s facts.

“The only way you can take credit for the emissions drop, which only happened in 2008 and 2009, is the global financial crisis,” she said. “The cold reality is that greenhouse gas emissions have been rising since we started to recover from the financial crisis in 2009.”

“You haven’t been able to get it done on the environment Mr. Harper and you haven’t been able to get it done on the economy. You haven’t accomplished the kind of balance Canadians expect,” Trudeau added.

On Canada’s participation in the U.S.-led mission against the Islamic State group, Harper said he stands by his government’s decision to support its NATO Allies, noting it would be “foolish” to ignore the threat posed by the “international jihadi movement.

Mulcair, meanwhile, used the opportunity to slam Harper as someone who always favours a militaristic approach and May as someone who is unwilling to even consider using the country’s military resources, regardless of the circumstances.

"Ms. May is opposed to every single possible use of our military and Mr. Harper in favour of every single possible use of our military," he said.

"I don't think this government has actually gotten involved in many military actions," Harper snapped back.

Harper says other leaders would spend ‘tens of billions’

Following the debate each leader was given two minutes for closing remarks.

In his remarks, Trudeau chose to respond to a series of Conservative party attack ads painting him as someone who is not ready to lead.

Harper, meanwhile, chose to attack the other leaders, saying that they would "spend tens of billion dollars to be financed by higher taxes and deficits.”

For his part, Mulcair tried to offer up himself as a solid alternative to Harper.

Interestingly, Mulcair’s closing remarks made no mention of Trudeau or the Liberals.

“I have the experience to replace Mr. Harper and to fix the damage that he has done,” he said.