Feds plan to have a leaders’ debate organizer in place for 2019 election
OTTAWA — The federal government has been quietly working on a new body to organize leaders’ debates in federal elections, which it plans to have up and running by next year’s vote.
And while a senior official said the governing Liberals will unveil specifics in the coming weeks, concerns are already being raised about whether the new entity will be truly independent and impartial.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the 2015 campaign, when the issue became a political football, to create an arm’s-length body to organize future leaders’ debates.
Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould emphasized the need for an impartial and independent debate commission or commissioner in a letter to a House of Commons’ committee this week.
“Formally establishing an independent commission to organize the debates could help ensure that the interests of Canadians, rather than private entities and political parties, are central to how leaders’ debates are organized and broadcast,” Gould wrote.
She went on to outline some of the government’s views on how such an independent body would operate, including that it should be guided by various high-minded principles such as “democratic citizenship, civic education and inclusion.”
Gould was vague on whether the body should be set up inside Elections Canada as well as the politically sensitive question of how and when it should establish — and publicly reveal — the criteria for deciding leaders’ participation.
The senior official, who did not have authorization to speak publicly, said some details are still being finalized, the intent is have the new entity ready for the October 2019 election.
To meet that schedule, the official said, the Liberals are not planning to enshrine the commission or commissioner in law, in part because of the time it would take to pass new legislation.
The approach raises questions for Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, a government accountability group, about whether the new body will be truly independent, particularly if members end up being named by the Liberal cabinet.
“The person needs to have legal independence, which means serving for a fixed term, you can’t be fired except for cause, having control over the staff of the commission and any decisions of the commission,” Conacher said.
The politicization of the debates deepened in 2015 when the Conservatives served notice that Stephen Harper, prime minister at the time, would not participate in debates organized by a media consortium.
Several other debates, organized by a variety of media outlets, were held instead but reached much smaller audiences. Unclear criteria meant Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, was allowed to participate in only two of five televised debates.