This is a fun clip that sorta had me laughing.
— David Beaudoin (@DavidABeaudoin) April 18, 2025
I know the NDP isn’t doing well, but I hope Jagmeet sticks around. Maybe he’s just ahead of his time.
“You don’t know the answer either, you’re just throwing out random questions. You’re just making it up, you don’t know.” pic.twitter.com/aLxDT6kzqW
The Secret Santa game requires you to pick a person other than yourself to give a gift. So TVO's Steve Pankin said the candidates (or contestants in Pierre Poilievre's eyes) in the English-language debate could ask a question of any of the other candidates.
To no one's surprise, every candidate other than Mark Carney asked Carney a question. Carney even joked about asking himself a question. A Secret Santa draw would have been hilarious and even helpful if the person they asked was random.
Your humble narrator has covered politics for a very long time. Debates are good when real, boots on the ground, journalists get to ask questions. No TV journalists. Patrice Roy (French) and Pankin (English) did a decent job for TV people. Roy's gotcha question about pipelines figured prominently in the subsequent debate coverage.
Jagmeet Singh fell short on time in the French-language debate. The NDP Quebec wave of 2011 feels like a long time ago. Jack Layton is missed. Yves-François Blanchet fell short of time in the English-language debate and I don't think he cared. Blanchet did have a great line about not wanting to speak English in Montréal.
For the anglophones, this was a good analysis of what you missed in French. This take on the English debate is somewhat decent.
The ideas of the Green Party of Canada were missing. TV journalists dismiss the NDP and even more, the Greens because their vision is only red and blue (party colours). Jonathan Pedneault is no Elizabeth May but would have been good to hear his voice in the debates en Francaise or in English. You might even argue that the Green Party would have made a nice fourth in the English-language debate while Blanchet could have an extra night to celebrate his 60th birthday.
Poilievre wants to use the notwithstanding clause, which conservative provincial governments have used recently (Bill 21 in Quebec; Doug Ford stealing half of Toronto's councillors DURING an election), on multiple murderers. Singh was quick to point out in both languages that all the leaders are against multiple murderers.
Carney addressed why using the clause is a very bad idea under any circumstances. Essentially, the notwithstanding clause allows governments to take away individual rights without challenge.
The focus is on the questions that get asked and not the questions that don't get asked. Roy and Pankin didn't ask about the need for the security clearance from the opposition leader. Only that Carney got a chance to ask a question did the subject come up. Everyone on that stage has a security clearance except for Poilievre. And no, his decade old security clearance doesn't count and never has.
Carney didn't say India but implied that country, allegedly involved in the last Conservative Party leadership race (that Poilievre won). One of the best, for lack of a better word, zingers but only if you are paying attention to foreign interference.
Broadcasting tonight's French leaders' debate:
— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) April 16, 2025
ICI Radio-Canada Télé
ICI RDI
AMItélé
APTN
CBC NN (in English)
CPAC (in both languages)
ICI (in Arabic)
OMNI.1 (in Italian)
OMNI BC (in Punjabi)
Not broadcasting it: TVA, Noovo, Télé-Québec, TFO
Faguy also pointed out that CTV News Channel, Le Canal Nouvelles (LCN), and The News Forum did not cover the debate. LCN is Quebecor's (TVA) news channel.
The debates are considered important because they are a chance to hear straight from the major party leaders. Yet if you can't stir Bell Media (CTV News Channel) and Quebecor (LCN and TVA) to look up. I would be curious if the other major French language networks carry Quebec leaders debates for provincial elections. As of now, Quebec is the only scheduled Canadian province to have an election in 2026.
Noovo Info, which runs early evening and late at night on Novoo, and TVA Nouvelles appear to be the only other over-the-air national newscasts en Francaise in Quebec besides Radio-Canada. Yet Radio-Canada was the only French-language outlet to broadcast the debate.
The time of the English language debate never wavered. The start time of the French language debate jumped around more than a frog in a frying pan. That happened before the Montréal Canadiens were dragged into this mess (Les Habs ont gagné le match. C'est bon). Then the Leaders Debate Commission decided hours before the French language debate to disallow the Green Party from the debate. The party allegedly violated rules not in place and had met the criteria as stated in the agreement.
Hard to get French-language coverage when you have to do an Internet search as the time kept switching. Lower on the priorities but this is on the commission.
CBC, CTV, and Global carried the English language debate last week. Citytv doesn't have a national newscast and carried regular programming. Odd that Citytv acts as a national network and yet national news isn't required or encouraged.
Rebel/True North got as many questions as CBC, Global, Radio-Canada and Presse Canadienne combined. https://t.co/Ti7oFhK2aP
— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 (@acoyne) April 17, 2025
Post-debate scrums, even under the best of circumstances, have little usefulness. The Leaders Debate Commission really screwed up the post debate scrum (reporters ask the candidates questions after the debate) by allowing Rebel News to have 5 times as many reporters.
To clarify: Rebel News and True North are, in Justin Trudeau's words, not a "media organisation" in any traditional sense. Think Fox News but not as professional. Far to the right and not even pretending to be journalists.
Cont'd: #CBC's @RosieBarton explains what happened and @DavidWCochrane weighs in. #cdnpoli #Elxn45 pic.twitter.com/68e6UBotAa
— Jason Pugh 🇨🇦 🏳️🌈 (@TheJasonPugh) April 18, 2025
Jagmeet Singh delivered one of his best lines after the French-language debate.
Things went so badly that the Leaders Debate Commission cancelled the scrums for the English-language debate.
The @canadiangreens had the required number of candidates at the deadline so that met the requirement. Their voice should be at the debate. #cdnelxn https://t.co/4DK7xieWKu
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) April 16, 2025
The Leaders Debate Commission set guidelines for participation. The key was "28 days before voting day," which would be April 1. The Green Party had those candidates as of April 1. The commission said the Greens deliberately withdrew candidates in some ridings. There isn't really proof of this. Pedneault and his team were in Montréal, preparing for the debate.
The situation should be truly neutral. 2 major decisions by the commission were leaning heavily to the right and against the left. Even if the reverse had happened (not likely), this stinks. Though we loathe refs who swallow their whistles in playoff hockey, the commission is better off to swallow a whistle or two.
This scene reminded us of the fraternity probation hearing against Delta house in Animal House. That was a parody in a movie.
The Greens fulfilled the criteria as written and should have been on that stage. The criticism of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is that the number of ridings don't reflect the desires of the voters. If a voter in Riding X wants to vote for the Greens or even the NDP, that voter might feel pressure to vote Liberal so the Conservatives doesn't win. Marking Greens as a second choice would increase the number of MPs and give that party more credibility in the eyes of journalists.
You might even get better voter turnout with voter reform.
Gonna say this... Regardless of who wins the election, the PM has my permission to spend the money needed to fix 24 Sussex Dr and allow our National Leader to live in a proper fucking dwelling.
— Gator🍁Gum - Nasty Canadian (@gator_gum) April 13, 2025
TV debate questions are often about light and not heat. They aren't thoughtful and don't help voters figure out the candidates, which should be the point of debates.
A legitimate question that the candidates won't be ready for, yet is important to ask and get their views. The opposition leader has a mansion while the prime minister lives within Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
This is a question that the TV debate people would never ask. That is better than any gotcha question. Canadians should know what the leaders would do on this topic.
Mon plan pour affronter cette crise est clair. #TLMEP
— Mark Carney (@mark-carney.bsky.social) April 13, 2025 at 9:01 PM
[image or embed]
Even as an anglophone, how you do in the French-language debate pales in comparison to how a candidate does on Tout le monde en parle on ICI Télé. As afraid as Poilievre has been to even debate in his own riding, all party leaders want to be on this show. Oui, Polilevre's French is better than Carney's but what you parle is tres importante, not always how you say it.
Jean Chrétien's French was always better than his English and voters cared more about ideas more than syntax.
Canada election 2025: Where we are before this week's debates
Mark Carney has come up in past leaders debates but one stands out in particular. Then Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe referred twice in a 2015 debate to "Art Carney" as a response to corporations sitting on piles of cash. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau gently let Duceppe know that he meant Mark Carney, who was at the Bank of England in 2015.
As someone in the field of journalism, have never been too much of a fan of endorsements. Sometimes you can learn from the logistics of endorsements outside of the actual endorsement. From our coverage of the 2015 election:
John Shorthouse (Vancouver Canucks play by play) joked that The Globe and Mail had endorsed Henrik Sedin but not his brother Daniel Sedin. The joke was based on the newspaper's editorial for the Conservative Party but not Stephen Harper.
Hockey announcers don't usually get even remotely political, but The Globe and Mail's acrobatic turn with its endorsement deserved mocking.
2025 Canada election preview
Even as shallow as the debates generally are, they serve a function for people who pay little to no attention to the election. A soupcon of the basics in terms of voting for the parties you saw on stage. Also, why the Greens should have been there.
I get in Nova Scotia or Manitoba that there are more nuances between candidates. If you are really debating between red and blue, the gap is as wide as Hudson Bay.
2025 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
We think the act of releasing platforms just after the debate is childish. The Liberals released their platform. The NDP has a platform. Both platforms were out to help voters in early voting. The Conservatives don't have a costed platform on the last day of advance voting. They likely won't release one and somehow get away with it politically. The opposition leader really wanted an election but still doesn't have a platform.
If somehow the Conservatives release a costed platform — don't hold your breath — and we can get a link, we will update this story.
Elections Canada said nearly 2 million Canadians, a record high, voted on the first day of advance polls.
Today is the final day for advance voting, running from 9 am to 9 pm local time. You can vote early at any Elections Canada office — 500 Elections Canada offices across the country — by tomorrow at 6 pm. Obviously, you can vote at your assigned polling station on Election Day, Monday, April 28.
Twitter captures: @DavidABeaudoin; @fagstein; @acoyne; @TheJasonPugh; @canadian_xing; @gator_gum
photo and video credit: Leaders Debate Commission/CPAC
BlueSky capture: @mark-carney.bsky.social
