OTTAWA – Former Governor General David Johnston has been appointed as Canada’s first-ever independent commissioner of televised leaders' debates during federal elections.
According to a CTV report, the new commission must organize at least one debate in each official language in a "fair, open, and transparent" process that emphasizes impartiality and accessibility.
As part of the new rules, parties looking to put their leader in the debates need to meet two of the following three criteria:
– having at least one MP elected at the time the election is called;
– intend to run candidates in at least 90% of electoral districts; and
– obtained 4% of the vote in the last campaign, or have a "legitimate chance" to win seats in the upcoming election, based on public opinion and polling data.
Johnston is also tasked with creating a seven-member advisory board plus must hire a production company to produce the debates "in accordance with high journalistic standards". That feed must be made be made available free of charge to any organization that asks to distribute it.
The federal 2018 budget included $5.5 million over the next two years for this commission.
