OTTAWA – Canada’s federal opposition parties have agreed to participate in two debates on the major television networks, but it is unknown at this time if the federal Conservative Party will also join in.
The Broadcast Consortium, made up of CBC News, ICI Radio-Canada Télé, CTV News and Global News, said Thursday that they reached agreement in principle with the New Democratic Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, the Green Party of Canada, and the Bloc Quebecois to stage two debates, one in English and one in French, at the height of the 2015 federal election campaign.
It also announced new partnerships with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and YouTube to extend the digital reach of the 2015 Leaders' debates to make them accessible to voters of all ages, across the country and across all platforms.
“Canada's major broadcast news organizations believe that it is in the best interest of democracy to have leaders debating issues of concern in a setting that is independent, fair and equitable. The debates will be televised and streamed on-line with simultaneous translation, and accessed in multiple ways through social networks”, the consortium said in a statement. “The broadcasters are optimistic that this new proposal will be accepted by the Conservative Party of Canada.”
The federal Conservative Party said earlier this month that it would forgo the traditional leaders debates on television to instead take part in as many as five independently staged debates.
