Federal leaders’ debates set for April 16-17

Some of the candidates vying to become Canada’s next prime minister will take part in two debates in mid-April.

Federal party leaders will take the stage for a French-language debate April 16 at 8 p.m. before going head-to-head again, this time in English, April 17 at 7 p.m.

Both debates will take place at the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal and will be streamed live on CityNews 24/7.

OMNI TV will be translating both debates in six languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Arabic, Italian). They will air on OMNI TV and will also be live-streamed on the OMNI website.

Candidates can take part in the debate if they meet two-of-three requirements established by the Leaders’ Debates Commission.

• First, the party must have an elected MP on the date the election was called.
• Second, the party must be polling at four per cent support – based on national public opinion polling organizations – four weeks before the general election.
• Finally, the party must have endorsed candidates in at least 90 per cent of federal ridings four weeks before the general election.

Leaders invited to participate in the debates will be announced April 1.

“The participation criteria align with the Commission’s mandate which says that leaders’ debates should ‘benefit from the participation of the leaders who have the greatest likelihood of becoming Prime Minister or whose political parties have the greatest likelihood of winning seats in Parliament,’” the commission wrote.

“They ensure that the leaders invited on the debate stage represent a current picture of the country’s political forces at play when the debates take place.”

Meeting two-of-three requirements is a new threshold established this year. Last federal election, in 2021, parties only had to meet one-of-three conditions.

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, argued earlier this year the rule change was implemented specifically to keep him out of the debates. Despite securing five per cent of the vote in 2021, the PPC did not win a seat, and the party is currently polling at less than four per cent support.