WATCH: Carney struggles to criticize Poilievre in French, diverts to English

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday fumbled his French while trying to call Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a "conspiracy theorist."

A reporter spoke to Carney in French, and he had to ask her to repeat the last part of her question.

When she repeated her question, which was about his Brookfield Asset Management holdings, Carney said in French there's "no way" he has a conflict of interest and insisted he "works for Canadians."

He then changed the subject to Poilievre, claiming his opponent is becoming "more and more desperate"... but then apparently couldn't think of the French term for "conspiracy theorist," so he said it in English.

"He spends too much time with his MAGA friends and he comes up with whatever he can think of," added Carney in English in response to the French-speaking reporter.

This is not Carney's first French flub of the week. On Monday he was asked in French if he will be participating in a private French-language debate on TVA Nouvelles, to whish he replied, "pourquoi pas? [why not?]."

The Liberal party later the same day issued a statement saying Carney will in fact not be participating in the debate, which costs $75,000 for each party leader.

Poilievre responded to the conundrum by offering to pay for Carney's buy in. The Liberals did not respond to Poilievre's challenge.

Party leaders are scheduled for two public debates ahead of the April 28 vote. The French-language debate will be April 16 and the English-speaking debate April 17, both in Montreal.