TORONTO A simmering battle between federal Greens and New Democrats took centre stage at the first leaders debate of the election campaign Thursday, where some of the sharpest jabs were exchanged between Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh .

Though Greens and the NDP share similar priorities from fighting climate change to bringing in national pharmacare polls suggest they are currently in a dogfight for third place and, potentially, the balance of power in a future minority Parliament.

At the event in Toronto, hosted by Macleans and Citytv, the NDP leader threw down the gauntlet, stating that while his party agrees with Mays on a lot of issues, they differ on four key points.