Televised debates to go ahead without Tories
OTTAWA — The NDP, Liberals, Greens and Bloc Quebecois agreed Thursday to debate on national television during the fall election campaign, but the Conservatives say they won’t participate.
This sets up the possibility the Conservative and Liberal leaders will not meet in a debate, the first time in decades that that hasn’t happened during an election campaign.
The four parties reached an agreement in principle at a meeting at CBC offices in Ottawa on Thursday to two debates, one in English and one in French, to be aired by a consortium of Canadian broadcasters.
The leaders of the NDP, Liberals and Greens will participate in the English debate. The Bloc will participate only in the French debate.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, the consortium called on the Conservatives to reconsider. “The broadcasters are optimistic that this new proposal will be accepted by the Conservative Party of Canada,” the statement said.
But two hours later, Conservative spokesman Kory Teneycke said that won’t be happening. “We are doing five,” he said in an email. “We have agreed to four with one more French-language debate left to decide on. We declined the consortium debate proposal. Our position has not changed.”
The Conservatives and the NDP said they will participate in debates organized by Quebec network TVA, Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail and The Munk School of Global Affairs. The Liberals have refused those debates.
In a statement issued before the meeting, the Liberals suggested leader Justin Trudeau would participate only in debates that “reach the largest number of Canadians.”
“Only the broadcast group has the ability to reach all Canadians,” the Liberals said.
But the party is still in talks with TVA about its debate proposal.
The consortium includes CBC, CTV, Global and Radio-Canada, offering a huge broadcasting reach. In the last election, 14 million Canadians watched the debates.