Leaders' Debates Commission announces dates, location for upcoming debates, and leader participation decision date

OTTAWA, ON, March 24, 2025 /CNW/ - The Leaders' Debates Commission today unveils the location and dates of the upcoming leaders' debates as well as the decision date for the invitation of the party leaders. 

The two debates will be held at the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montréal, Québec on Wednesday, April 16 at 8 p.m. EDT (in French) and Thursday, April 17 at 7 p.m. EDT (in English).

The decision to use existing technical facilities and studios was taken jointly by the Commission and the debates producer. It is a fiscally prudent and cost-effective approach that will guarantee high-quality production standards.

Inviting the leaders

On January 14, 2025, the Commission released its participation criteria for the next leaders' debates.

In order to be invited by the Commission to participate in the leaders' debates, a leader of a registered political party must meet two of the following criteria: 

(i): on the date the general election is called, the party is represented in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament who was elected as a member of that party.

(ii): 28 days before the date of the general election, the party receives a level of national support of at least 4%, determined by voting intention, and as measured by leading national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly reported results.

(iii): 28 days before the date of the general election, the party has endorsed candidates in at least 90% of federal ridings.

The Commission will announce which leaders will be invited to participate in the leaders' debates on April 1, 2025. 

Mandate

The participation criteria align with the Commission's mandate which says that leaders' debates should "benefit from the participation of the leaders who have the greatest likelihood of becoming Prime Minister or whose political parties have the greatest likelihood of winning seats in Parliament."

They ensure that the leaders invited on the debate stage represent a current picture of the country's political forces at play when the debates take place.

Moderators & Format

To aim to produce the most informative and effective debates for voters, the Commission established the following moderation and format principles: one moderator and a simple and flexible format that encourages meaningful exchanges between the leaders.

As announced last October, Steve Paikin, host of TVO's flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, will moderate the English debate and Patrice Roy, journalist and news anchor of Radio-Canada's Téléjournal avec Patrice Roy and RDI's En direct avec Patrice Roy, will moderate the French debate.

About the Leaders' Debates Commission

The Leaders' Debates Commission is an independent and impartial public body mandated is to organize two leaders' debates in each federal general election that are in the public interest, one in each official language, while paying special attention to Canada's Indigenous languages. The Commission is responsible for setting out production, promotion, and distribution requirements for the leaders' debates, while respecting journalistic independence for the content of the debates as well as setting participation criteria for the debates.

Website: www.debates-debats.ca
X: @debates_can / @debats_can

SOURCE Leaders' Debates Commission

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