SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

Why We Still Debate Election Debates

By Ian Austen

This week the world talked climate change at the United Nations and received a blunt dressing down of its elites by Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist from Sweden. And on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democrats, and Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader, joined Ms. Thunberg and thousands of others in the climate march in Montreal.

A podium was left empty after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned down an invitation to debate the Green leader Elizabeth May, left, the the Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh of the New Democrats earlier this month.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press

But it was also a week where Canada's election campaign went off into its recurring debates about debates.

This time the spark was the decision by the Munk Debates to cancel its gathering of the leaders scheduled for next week because of Mr. Trudeau's decision not to attend. Not long before that, the decision of the official debate consortium to invite Maxime Bernier, the leader of the new and far-right People's Party of Canada, to its French- and English-language debates was not universally acclaimed.

But, wait a minute, wasn't this supposed to be the election when the debates rolled along smoothly? Think back to 2015. The official English-language debate fell apart over objections to its format from then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who did participate in some other leaders' debates. In a bid to reset the system, when Mr. Trudeau became prime minister he began a review of how debates are organized and run. The result was taking responsibility for them away from broadcasters and turning it over to an official debates commission with David Johnston, the widely respected former governor general, as its head. So why are we still talking about this?

The Canadian Museum of History across from Parliament in Gatineau, Quebec, will host the official leaders' debates.Ian Austen/The New York Times

Compared to the United States' presidential debates, televised leaders' debates came late to Canada. Perhaps that's because unlike American presidential candidates, Canadian party leaders vying to become prime minister debate each other all the time in the House of Commons. (Let's set aside, for now, the quality of that debate.)

So, it wasn't until 1968 when the CBC and CTV combined to bring Canadians, "live and in color," Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Liberal prime minister in his first campaign, Robert Stanfield, the Conservative leader, and Tommy Douglas of the New Democrats having it out on a set cobbled together in a parliamentary committee room. Réal Caouette of the Social Credit party was allowed to jump in for the last 80 minutes.

The format was familiar: two moderators and a panel of journalists. But the debate was conducted in French and English with translation, an arrangement that was less than ideal.

And in an echo of the current campaign, the first question was about how far gun controls should go.

Eleven years and two elections would pass before the broadcasters tried again in 1979. Mr. Johnston, then the dean of law at the University of Western Ontario, had the job of moderator. Although the 1980 election was another miss, debates have been a fixture of campaigns ever since.

At times, they've been important voting influences.

In 1984 many analysts said Brian Mulroney, a Conservative, propelled himself into the prime minister's office in part because of an attack on John Turner, then the Liberal prime minister. Mr. Mulroney challenged Mr. Turner's decision to fill a long list of appointments to government posts with friends and political allies of Mr. Trudeau when he succeeded him as prime minister.

"You had an option, sir — to say 'no' — and you chose to say 'yes' to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party," Mr. Mulroney thundered.

Brian Mulroney's strong performance in a 1984 debate aided his successful campaign.Andrew Wallace/Reuters

Four years later, Mr. Mulroney was on the defensive as Mr. Turner challenged the free trade deal the Conservative had struck with the United States. The Liberals didn't win, but they did considerably boost their standing in the House of Commons.

In 2015, Mr. Trudeau, the current Mr. Trudeau, seemingly couldn't attend enough debates. And his performances during them most likely played a significant role in the Liberals' ascent from third place in the polls to victory.

This year, Mr. Trudeau isn't quite as keen about them. He didn't show up at a debate organized by Maclean's magazine and Rogers Communications' chain of TV stations despite joining it last time. And then came his decision to not make a repeat performance at the Munk Debate on foreign policy.

But, at the same time, Mr. Trudeau isn't limiting himself to the two official French and English debates. He has also agreed to join one organized by TVA, the French-language broadcaster that won't air the official French-language debate but which has very significant ratings in vote-rich Quebec.

Peter Donolo, who was the director of communications for the Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and who helped Mr. Trudeau prepare for the televised debates in 2015, told me recently that it is a political calculation.

"Last time he needed the maximum number of debates, there was no downside," said Mr. Donolo, who is currently vice chairman at Hill and Knowlton Canada and not involved in the current campaign. "But now the maximum number of debates brings the maximum number of risks for him as the incumbent."

It's a risk that Mr. Trudeau's father addressed 51 years ago during the first debate.

"Some might say there might have been some risks for a prime minister to accept this type of debate," the elder Mr. Trudeau said in opening remarks. "I rather think that the risk exists if he didn't accept. Because a democracy is essentially an exchange of ideas between those who govern and those who are governed."

Trans Canada

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A strike by the United Auto Workers is against only the United States operations of General Motors. But it's having a strong effect on Canadian workers.
A straw and Photoshop combined to create a bit of campaign embarrassment for Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader.

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A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.