Harper government won’t take part in traditional debates

The federal Conservative Party says it won’t participate in the traditional leaders’ debates run by a consortium of broadcasters including CBC, CTV and Global and will instead accept up to five independently staged debates in the run-up to the fall federal election.

The decision by the Harper Conservatives appears to deal a serious if not fatal blow to the near-monopoly that broadcasters such as CBC have had in determining how federal political leaders square off before national votes.

Conservative campaign spokesman Kory Teneycke said the Tories have already accepted proposals for two new rival debates – one organized by Maclean’s magazine and its owner Rogers, and the other by French-language broadcaster TVA.

The Conservative decision now puts pressure on other federal political parties to follow suit.

The rejection of the broadcast consortium as the sponsor and manager of political debates – a role they’ve played for decades – doesn’t prevent outlets such as CBC or CTV from bringing their television cameras to the new independent debates and broadcasting these events. ‎"We have received debate proposals from a variety of print and broadcast media, as well as other organizations. We believe the diversity and innovation inherent in different debate sponsors and approaches is valuable,” Mr. Teneycke said.

“Therefore we have decided to decline the proposal from the Broadcast Consortium for four debates, which for practical purposes would effectively exclude other media and organizations capable of hosting debates of this nature. We anticipate we will receive additional offers for debates over the coming weeks.”

The Globe and Mail is one of the organizations that is submitting a rival proposal this week to host a full leaders’ debate.

Original Article
Source: theglobeandmail.com/
Author: STEVEN CHASE