The English debate took place on Oct. 7 in the following languages and formats:
The debates were broadcast live on Global TV and streamed on globalnews.ca, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Plains Cree – also available on APTN West television
Inuktitut – also available on APTN North television
Radio:
The English debate was broadcast live CBC Radio One and the Global News Radio Network
Themes for the English debate:
- Affordability and economic insecurity
- National and global leadership
- Indigenous issues
- Polarization, human rights and immigration
- Environment and energy
French debate, Oct. 10
As with the English debate, the French debate were held in front of a non-partisan live audience at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., overlooking Parliament Hill. The French language debate was available in the following languages and formats:
- English: on Globalnews.ca, on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
- French
- East Cree on APTN or CBC
- Denesuline on APTN or CBC
- Described video (French)
- ASL
- LSQ
- Cantonese
- Italian
- Punjabi
Themes for the French debate:
- Economy and finances
- Environment and energy
- Foreign policy and immigration
- Identity, ethics and governance
- Services to citizens
The leaders were asked questions submitted by Canadians as well as from the journalists moderating the debates.
We acknowledge the support of interpreters in sign languages, official languages and Indigenous languages, for services provided through the Translation Bureau and Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Who:
- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
- Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer
- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh
- Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet
- Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
- People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier
The leaders’ parties had to meet two out of three requirements set by the federal Leaders’ Debates Commission:
1) Representation in the current House of Commons by a member who was elected under that party’s banner
2) A determination that the party intends to run candidates in at least 90 per cent of electoral districts
3) The party’s candidates received at least four per cent of valid votes in the last election, or have a “legitimate chance” of winning seats, based on polling data and at the discretion of the debates commissioner.
All participation order in the debates will be decided by draw to ensure fairness.
Moderators
The moderators come from each of the media organizations in the Canadian Debate Production Partnership, and have deep experience in news or politics coverage.
In the English debate, distinct sections of the two-hour event were guided by the moderators:
- Susan Delacourt, Ottawa bureau chief, Toronto Star
- Dawna Friesen, national anchor, Global News
- Althia Raj, Ottawa bureau chief, HuffPost Canada
- Lisa LaFlamme, chief news anchor, CTV News
- Rosemary Barton, chief correspondent of political coverage and live specials, CBC News
The French debate was moderated by Patrice Roy from Radio-Canada with the participation of:
- Alec Castonguay, head of politics bureau, L’actualité
- Patricia Cloutier, National Assembly reporter, Le Soleil
- Hélène Buzzetti, parliamentary correspondent, Le Devoir
- François Cardinal, editor-in-chief, La Presse
How the debate producer was chosen
In 2018, the government announced plans to set up an independent commission to standardize a transparent process of organizing the leaders’ debates.
The mandate of the resulting Leaders’ Debate Commission, led by former governor general David Johnston, is to make the debates a more reliable and stable element of federal election campaigns, and to ensure the debates are as accessible as possible on a variety of platforms.
In May, the commission issued a request for proposal, seeking bidders to produce the English and French debates. Nine media outlets came together to form the Canadian Debate Production Partnership and won the contract to produce the two events.
The Canadian Debate Production Partnership is comprised of:
- CBC News
- Radio-Canada
- CTV News
- Global News
- Toronto Star and the Torstar chain
- HuffPost Canada and HuffPost Québec
- La Presse
- Le Devoir
- L’actualité
These are the additional distribution partners:
- OMNI Television
- APTN
- CPAC
- Groupe Capitales Médias
- Groupe V Média
- Yahoo! Canada
- CHCH-TV
- Cable 14-Hamilton
- Rogers Media
- CityNews
- CSPAN
Comments