Here's your chance.
Suggestion of question:
- If you are elected will you respect secularism in Quebec, or do you intend to intervene againts it ?
- Should a religious group that opposes the union of same-sex couples have their accreditation withdrawn from the state?
- What are the measures and reforms you plan to take on assisted suicide?
- Will you allow the professional or religious group to help LGBTQ people who want help? Or will they be taxed homophobia, and subject to penalties
- What are your positions on family reform, what do you plan for the future?
- Protection of the unborn: What are your positions about abortion, will you regulate that. For you from when a baby is considered a living being ?
From left to right: Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier.
When the federal party leaders face off in October for the official English and French election debates, they will be answering questions from a panel of journalists — and from some of you.
Everything You Need To Know About The 2019 Federal Leaders' Debates
Social media posts. News conferences and statements. Door to door. Rallies. Text messages. Lawn signs.
Canadian voters may be inundated with information these days, but hearing directly from federal party leaders remains a vital way to make an informed election choice. As the Leaders’ Debates Commission states, debates “give you a chance to see the character, temperament, and unscripted approaches of leaders seeking to be Canada’s prime minister.”
Here’s how you can watch, listen, and engage with the two official leaders’ debates in the 2019 election campaign. This page will be updated regularly with new information and links to debate streams.
What’s your question for the leaders’ debate?
You may have a chance to ask them yourself during the live events. Click here to submit a question.
Canadian voters may be inundated with information these days, but hearing directly from federal party leaders remains a vital way to make an informed election choice. As the Leaders’ Debates Commission states, debates “give you a chance to see the character, temperament, and unscripted approaches of leaders seeking to be Canada’s prime minister.”
Here’s how you can watch, listen, and engage with the two official leaders’ debates in the 2019 election campaign. This page will be updated regularly with new information and links to debate streams.
What’s your question for the leaders’ debate?
You may have a chance to ask them yourself during the live events. Click here to submit a question.
From left to right: Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, Yves-François Blanchet, Elizabeth May, Maxime Bernier.
When:
Where:
The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. in front of a live audience.
How you can experience the debates:
The 2019 official debates are produced by the Canadian Debate Production Partnership, which is made up of:
You’ll be able to access the debate on TV, radio, digital and social platforms run by the partnership, as well as through our distribution partners:
To reach the broadest cross-section of Canadians, the debates will also be simultaneously translated and available in key Indigenous languages, ASL, SQL, closed captioning, described video, and additional languages of Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Arabic and Punjabi.
- English debate - Monday Oct. 7, 2019, 7-9 p.m. ET.
- French debate - Thursday Oct. 10, 2019, 8-10 p.m. ET.
Where:
The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. in front of a live audience.
How you can experience the debates:
The 2019 official debates are produced by the Canadian Debate Production Partnership, which is made up 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.
You’ll be able to access the debate on TV, radio, digital and social platforms run by the partnership, as well as through our distribution partners:
- OMNI Television
- APTN
- CPAC
- Groupe Capitales Médias
- Groupe V Média
- Yahoo! Canada.
To reach the broadest cross-section of Canadians, the debates will also be simultaneously translated and available in key Indigenous languages, ASL, SQL, closed captioning, described video, and additional languages of Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Arabic and Punjabi.
Who:
The party leaders invited to the debates have all confirmed their participation:
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.
The party leaders invited to the debates have all confirmed their participation:
- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
- Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer
- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh
- Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet
- Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
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.
From left to right: Susan Delacourt, Dawna Friesen, Althia Raj, Lisa LaFlamme and Rosemary Barton.
In the English debate, distinct sections of the two-hour event will each be guided by the moderators:
The French debate will be moderated by Patrice Roy from Radio-Canada with the participation of:
- 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 will be 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.
From left to right: Alec Castonguay, Patricia Cloutier, Patrice Roy, Hélène Buzzetti, François Cardinal.
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.
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.
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