Veteran broadcast journalists tapped to moderate future leaders’ debates

OTTAWA — The Leaders’ Debate Commission has announced two seasoned broadcast journalists will moderate the French and English leaders’ debates in the next federal election.

TVO host Steve Paikin will moderate the English debate, while Patrice Roy, a host at Radio-Canada, will handle proceedings for the French debate.

Between the two of them, they have moderated 12 televised leaders’ debates at the federal and provincial levels.

Michel Cormier, the executive director of the Leaders’ Debate Commission, said that the goal of the next debate is to have more free-flowing debate between the candidates.

“So, what we’re looking for this time is a simpler format where the leaders have more time to expound on their policies and also to debate each other in open kind of settings, rather than having very timed segments where they may be cut off because their time is up too quickly,” Cormier said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“I think this is what Canadians hope for, because they tell us in the surveys that we do between elections, they like to hear from the leaders.”

CBC will produce and distribute the debate on conventional broadcast channels and online. Other media organizations will have free access to distribute the debate on their platforms.

Cormier said the commission will work with the moderators and producers to keep the debate flowing between the leaders and minimize cross-talk.

“Our objective is actually to have a debate where the voters can actually compare positions of the parties, but also judge the character of their leaders,” Cormier said.

The commission is still in the process of developing the format for the future debates, both of which will be held during the next federal election campaign.

That election must take place by Oct. 20, 2025, but the minority Liberal government is at risk of toppling as early as this fall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024

David Baxter, The Canadian Press