diff --git a/common/deploy-steps-tasks.yaml b/common/deploy-steps-tasks.yaml
index a628873fc6..19b9aa020f 100644
--- a/common/deploy-steps-tasks.yaml
+++ b/common/deploy-steps-tasks.yaml
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
     - name: Set host puppet debugging fact string
       set_fact:
         host_puppet_config_debug: "--debug --verbose"
-      when: enable_debug|default(false)
+      when: enable_debug|default(false)|bool
     - name: Write the config_step hieradata
       copy: content="{{dict(step=step|int)|to_json}}" dest=/etc/puppet/hieradata/config_step.json force=true mode=0600
       become: true