Here at CanadianCrossing.com, we have considerable experience covering political races. We've covered races in the United States and Canada, specialising in provincial and federal elections.
As part of the 2015 federal election campaign coverage, we offered weekly notebooks to cover the large and small stories from the campaign. Those notebooks were full of fascinating information about the electoral process. We learned about the Wyatt Scott Parliament ad, goose included.
Our plan is to have weekly Canada election notebooks every Sunday between the start of the campaign and October 21. We figured Sundays were a good day for expanded reading and, well, there is plenty going on during the week. We will promote the notebooks on Twitter in case you miss the Sunday debut.
You can catch up with the 2015 links:
Canada election 2015: Advance voting significantly up from 2011
Canada election 2015: Mourning the lost English language debate
Canada election 2015: How debating looks and sounds like in French
Canada election 2015: Wayne Gretzky, Donald Sutherland should debate
Canada election 2015: Economy debate on tap
Canada election 2015: Stephen Harper and 5 Questions
Canada election 2015: Conservative supporter lashes out
Canada election 2015: Wyatt Scott and his goose
Canada election 2015: Debating about debates
Canada election 2015: Rogers/MacLean's Canadian election debate leads off debate season
Canada election 2015: Stephen Harper calls very early election
Normally, we would have an election call before a debate. Maclean’s and Citytv (both Rogers owned) are jumping ahead with a debate on September 12.
The 2-hour debate focuses on the economy, foreign policy, Indigenous issues, as well as energy and the environment.
"We are continuing our tradition of early debates after the 2015 federal leaders' debate ignited a cross-country conversation and set the agenda for election day," Maclean’s editor-in-chief Alison Uncles said in a press release. The 2015 debate came after the election was called.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed to the Leaders Debates Commission debates on October 7 and October 10. We found out Friday that Trudeau won't be at the September 12 debate or the Munk foreign policy debate on October 1.
“The Commission was established after the last election where the governing party tried to game the system and make sure the fewest number of Canadians engaged in the debates,” Daniel Lauzon, the Liberal party’s director of communications and policy, said in a statement. “We think that’s wrong. The Commission debates will be widely distributed on television, radio, digital and social streaming platforms and reach the largest possible audience.”
Trudeau did agree to a debate on TVA, which was left out of the Leaders Debates Commission debates, for October 2 in Montréal. The debate is the same night as the start of the NHL season but the Montréal Canadiens don't play that night. The TVA debate leaves out Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The Green Party leader pointed out that sitting MP Pierre Nantel (Quebec) is a Green Party candidate and that the Greens are ahead of the NDP in most polls in Quebec.
That is sadly remnant of 2015, where the issue was Stephen Harper not wanting to debate and trying to force out Elizabeth May from the debates. In 2019, Elizabeth May is in every single debate but the TVA event, which is better but not marvelous. My advice to the current prime minister is the same in 2019 as it was in 2015. Show up. Debate. Don't be afraid.
To use a tennis term, Trudeau is committing an unforced error. Lauzon's statement ignores that the other debates are easy to find online. I found all the 2015 debates online. The 2019 access is even better.
Harper had his reasons for not debating in 2015. Trudeau doesn't really have those issues in 2019. He is the best spokesperson for his party. A standing prime minister shouldn't have the option to avoid a debate.
We will have more on the other debates during the official 2019 election preview when the writ drops.
Paul Wells of Maclean’s will moderate the debate that begins Thursday at 8 pm EDT. You can watch the debate on Citytv, Macleans.ca, the Maclean’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, and the Web sites of Rogers news radio stations and CityNews. CPAC (French) and OMNI Television [Mandarin and Cantonese (broadcast) and Punjabi (online)] offer alternative language translations.
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
We will have a full report of this debate in what will be the first official Canada Election 2019 notebook next Sunday.
photo credit: Maclean’s
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