The Leadership Debate Commission established by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has selected the CBC to “produce, promote, and distribute” the English leaders’ debate in the next election. At the same time, the broadcaster’s French counterpart, Radio-Canada will do the same for the Francophone debate.
The commission was established in 2018 to organize one French and one English debate in each general election.
The next federal election is set to take place no later than October 2025. However, both the Conservative and the Bloc Quebecois parties have vowed to push for an early election, and the NDP have ended a coalition agreement with the Liberals, meaning an early election is more likely than ever.
The commission appointed the public broadcaster, to stream the events across television and digital platforms, including social media and YouTube.
According to the announcement, the debates will also be available in “Indigenous languages and non-official languages, and accessible in ASL, LSQ, closed captioning and described video.”
The CBC selected the hosts with the direction that there would be only one moderator per debate.
The CBC and Radio-Canada’s mandate from the Commission was to select moderators who on top of being experienced television, panel hosts and journalists, could formulate and pose questions neutrally, were knowledgeable about the politics of the moment and could frame questions in an unbiased and non-partisan way.
Steve Paikin, The host of TVO’s “The Agenda with Steve Paikin” has been appointed to be the only moderator of the English debate, while Patrice Roy, a journalist and Anchor of Radio-Canada’s “Téléjournal avec Patrice Roy” will moderate the French debate.
Paikin moderated the federal leaders’ debates in 2006, 2008, and 2011 and the Ontario leaders’ debates in 2007, 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2022. Roy hosted the federal debates in 2019 and 2021, as well as Quebec provincial debates in 2018 and 2022.
The Commission emphasized “overall fairness” for each leader in the debate rather than “strict enforcement of equal time.” The moderators will be responsible for keeping time.
“The moderator is to be on stage as a facilitator and act as the conductor of the debate, to get the debate flowing between the leaders, facilitate discussion and elicit exchanges between the leaders, while keeping the focus and attention on the content and on the leaders. And to allow leaders to challenge each other’s positions and leave rebuttals largely to them,” the commission’s framework reads.
According to the commission, the framework is designed to encourage “meaningful exchanges” between the leaders, help Canadians learn about the parties’ platforms and policy positions, shed light on the leaders’ character, and enable the voting public to make an informed decision at the ballot box while prioritizing information and content for the voting public over entertainment values.
The CBC did not respond to True North’s request for comment by the deadline provided.