Prior to the creation of the commission, Canadian leaders' debates were organized and held by a consortium of the main television networks. In 2015, Stephen Harper, then leader of the Conservative Party, said he would not participate in debates organized by the consortium and instead participate in a series of independently organized debates. While he later agreed to participate in a French language debate hosted by the consortium, no English language debate was hosted by the consortium due to the resulting uncertainty. Other independently hosted debates occurred during the 2015 election campaign, but reached much smaller audiences than previous consortium debates.
Mandate
The commission is tasked with holding two official debates during the 2019 federal election. Following the election, it is also required to provide a report to Parliament on the leaders' debates and make recommendations for how future leaders debates should be conducted.
Following the Commission's request for proposal, the Canadian Debate Production Partnership was selected to produce the debates. The CDPP consisted of a consortium of English- and French-language broadcasters and newspapers: CBC News/Radio-Canada, Global News, CTV News, the Toronto Star, HuffPost Canada/Quebec, La Presse, Le Devoir, and L'Actualité. The English debate was moderated by Rosemary Barton, Susan Delacourt, Dawna Friesen, Lisa LaFlamme and Althia Raj, each responsible for a portion of the debate. The French moderator was :fr:Patrice Roy|Patrice Roy, who was assisted by several journalists from prominent Quebec newspapers.
Leaders invited
The government established rules in 2018 to determine which party leaders are invited to the official debates. To be invited a party must satisfy two of the following:
Have at least one member elected under the party's banner;
Nominate candidates to run in at least 90% of all ridings; and
Have captured at least 4% of the votes in the previous election or be considered by the commissioner to have a legitimate chance to win seats in the current election, based on public opinion polls.
In November 2018, Minister of Democratic InstitutionsKarina Gould said that Maxime Bernier would qualify for the debates as leader of the People's Party of Canada if the party nominated candidates in 90% of ridings. On August 12, 2019, the Commissioner extended invitations for Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, Elizabeth May and Yves-François Blanchet to attend. He also sent a letter to Maxime Bernier indicating that he did not qualify for the debates at this time, and asking for additional information from the People's Party so that a final decision could be reached by September 16. Bernier criticized the decision saying that it would not be a "real debate" without him. On September 16, following submission of further information from the People's Party, the Commissioner determined that "more than one candidate endorsed by the party has a reasonable chance to be elected" and therefore Bernier would be invited to the debates.
Content of debates
English debate: 1. Affordability and economic insecurity 2. National and global leadership 3. Indigenous issues 4. Polarization human rights, and immigration 5. Environment and energy French debate: 1. The economy and finances 2. Environment and energy 3. Foreign policy and immigration 4. Ethics and governance 5. Service to citizens On July 17, protesters gathered in cities across Canada calling for a leaders' debate to be held on the topic of climate change. The protests were directed at CBC News after organizers were told that broadcasters not the commission would determine the questions and topics of the debates. In response to the protests, the CBC released a statement saying that the commission and the editorial group at the broadcaster ultimately selected to host the debates would be responsible for making such determinations. On August 8, 2019, organizers delivered a petition with 48,000 signatures to the CBC.
