Critics call for overhaul or end of Debates Committee after controversial English debate – National

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The Leaders’ Debates Commission was created to put an end to the machinations of major political parties to control how, when, what and with whom leaders would debate during federal election campaigns.

But after Thursday’s controversial English-language debate, some critics are calling for an end to the independent commission or at least an overhaul of its mandate.

The heated two-hour debate was strongly condemned for giving leaders too little time to explain their policies or refute attacks by their rivals, and for giving moderator Shachi Kurl and questioning journalists too much time to interrupt.

Kurl has also been accused of asking biased questions, particularly with respect to what she called a “discriminatory” Quebec law that prohibits some officials from wearing religious symbols or clothing at work and a bill to strengthen the role of French in the province.

Read more: What happened during the federal leaders’ debate in English? Here are the highlights

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Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government created the Debates Commission after winning the 2015 election.

During this campaign, the traditional English debate organized by a consortium of television networks was marred after then Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to participate.

Five other debates took place but reached far fewer viewers.

Even before that, the consortium’s debates had been criticized for allowing major parties to threaten with non-participation in order to dictate the terms of the debates. The Green Party alleged that its leader was systematically excluded.

22:11 National World: Sept. 10 National World: Sept. 10

TV stations have also been criticized for being more concerned with presenting a good show than helping to educate voters.

The Debates Commission, headed by former Governor General David Johnston, was supposed to rectify all this.

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The committee established the criteria for participating in Thursday’s English debate and Wednesday’s French debate, which resulted in the exclusion of People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier.

But he entrusted most of the responsibility for producing the debates to network consortia. For the English debate, the consortium included CBC News, CTV News, APTN News and Global News.

Read more: Trudeau plays defense as opposition leaders fight for points in English election debate

According to its website, the commission works with the producers of the debates “to develop a format that reflects the public interest, while respecting journalistic independence”.

But in a statement released on Friday, the UK broadcasting consortium said it “selects the moderator and participating journalists, who enjoy full journalistic and editorial independence from the Leaders Debates Commission.”

Kurl referred requests for comment to the consortium’s statement, which said his question to Yves-François Blanchet focused specifically on the two provincial bills and “did not indicate that Quebecers are racist,” rebutting a claim by the leader. from the Bloc Québécois.

The committee confirmed that it was not involved in the choice of themes, questions or the moderator.

2: 35Premium Minister of Quebec, others cry denigration of Quebec following a federal debate Previous video Next video

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And that is the problem, says Elly Alboim, a former CBC parliamentary bureau chief who was involved in producing election debates from 1977 to 1993 and has since helped various provincial and federal Liberal leaders to get there. to prepare.

“They (the commission) seem to have taken the advice of whoever is producing the thing and made it into a TV show,” Alboim said in an interview.

He said the networks are “interested in maintaining audiences, providing a kind of fast and interesting television” and the journalists involved “act on a journalistic impulse: what makes the news, how do we hold them accountable – us, how do we signal when they are inconsistent, how do we explain to the public what their shortcomings are? “

But this is not the subject of an electoral debate, argued Alboim.

58: 442021 Canadian Elections: French-Speaking Federal Leaders Debate (English translation) 2021 Canadian Elections: French-Speaking Federal Leaders Debate (English translation)

“These are party leaders who are asking for accountability, explaining their programs and appealing to their voters. They don’t need the mediation of journalists, ”he said, noting that journalists have plenty of opportunities to grill leaders every day in the field.

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“In my opinion, the democratic responsibility is to step aside, to let people assess what they hear and to certainly give the leaders enough time to explain themselves and their agendas. This cannot be done in bursts of 15 and 20 seconds.

Alboim said Thursday’s format left only “minuscule” time for one of the leaders to seriously discuss an issue or move their policies forward.

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But, in his view, the fact that he often did not allow a leader time to refute a direct attack from a rival was inexcusable.

“Not understanding that you have created a format where people can throw accusations into the air and get no answer or rebuttal is a dereliction of duty,” Alboim said.

This meant that Trudeau, who was the primary target of these attacks, found himself playing the role of “pin cushion.”

“They would each do a smear and drive and then move on and he wouldn’t have a chance to respond so, of course, he was suffering from the format.”

© 2021 The Canadian Press

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