When
On Monday, Oct. 7, six federal party leaders faced off in an English-language debate in front of a non-partisan live audience at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., overlooking Parliament Hill.
On Thursday, Oct. 10, the same leaders will participate in a French-language debate 8-10 p.m. ET.
How to watch/listen to the French debate:
- English
- French
- East Cree on APTN or CBC
- Denesuline on APTN or CBC
- Described video (French)
- ASL
- LSQ
- Cantonese
- Mandarin
- Italian
- Punjabi
- Arabic
Themes for the French debate:
- Economy and finance
- Environment and energy
- Foreign policy and immigration
- Identity, ethics and governance
- Services to citizens
The leaders will be asked questions submitted by Canadians as well as from the journalists moderating the debates.
The debates are produced and distributed by the nine media outlets that make up the Canadian Debate Production Partnership, with additional distribution from other partners.
We acknowledge the support of interpreters in sign languages, official languages and Indigenous languages, for services provided through the Translation Bureau and Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Where
Both events will be held in front of a non-partisan live audience at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., overlooking Parliament Hill.
How to watch/listen:
The debates are produced and distributed by the nine media outlets that make up the Canadian Debate Production Partnership, with additional distribution from other partners.
This page will be updated with links to streams as they become available.
REPLAY THE ENGLISH DEBATE:
- English
- French
- LSQ (Quebec sign language)
- ASL (American sign language
- Ojibwe
- Plains Cree
- Inuktitut
- Cantonese
- Mandarin
- Italian
- Punjabi
- Arabic
Themes for the English debate:
- Affordability and economic insecurity
- National and global leadership
- Indigenous issues
- Polarization, human rights and immigration
- Environment and energy
This data illustration features the 150 words that came up the most in questions submitted by Canadians for the English leaders' debate.
Who:
- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
- Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer
- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh
- Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet
- Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
- People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier
The leaders' parties had to meet two out of three requirements set by the federal Leaders' Debates Commission. 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. (Photo credit: CDPP)
In the English debate, distinct sections of the two-hour event were guided by the moderators:
- 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 is 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
Federal party leaders will also be answering questions from the Canadian public. Below is a graphical illustration of the most common words in those submitted questions, which were received this summer.
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 successfully won the contract to produce the two events.
The Canadian Debate Production Partnership is comprised of:
- CBC News
- Radio-Canada
- CTV News
- Global News
- Toronto Starand the Torstar chain
- HuffPost Canadaand HuffPost Québec
- La Presse
- Le Devoir
- L’actualité.
These are the additional distribution partners:
- OMNI Television
- APTN
- CPAC
- Groupe Capitales Médias
- Groupe V Média
- Yahoo! Canada
- CHCH-TV
- Cable 14-Hamilton
- Rogers Media
- CityNews
- CSPAN