Traditionally, party leaders participated in two televised debates during the federal election – once in English and once in French. These debates were produced by a consortium of major television broadcasters, including CBC, Radio-Canada, CTV and Global.[21] In May 2015, the Conservatives said they would not participate in the traditional leaders’ debates and instead would take part in as many as five independently staged debates in the run-up to the fall federal election.[21] The New Democratic Party confirmed that Tom Mulcair will accept every debate where the Prime Minister is present.[22] Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has been invited to all four confirmed debates, but to date has only confirmed his participation in the Macleans debate.[23][24][25] The Bloc has been confirmed their attendance at the French language TVA debate and the Green Party has confirmed their attendance at the Macleans debate.[25][26] Strength in Democracy has not been invited to participate in any of the debates.
Confirmed debates:
| Subject | Participants | Date | Organizer (location) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | Conservatives; NDP; Liberals; Greens | August 6, 2015[27] | Macleans Magazine, Rogers, and CityTV[28] (Toronto) | English language debate, with live translations into French, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi. Aired on City, OMNI.1, OMNI.2, and CPAC; streamed live at Macleans.ca, Citytv.com, CityNews.ca, OMNItv.ca, CPAC.ca, Facebook, YouTube; and on Rogers radio stations. |
| Economy | Conservatives; NDP; Liberals (yet to confirm)[23] | September | Globe and Mail and Google Canada[29] (Calgary) | English language debate on the Canadian economy. Streamed live on The Globe’s website and distributed on YouTube. |
| Foreign Policy | Conservatives; NDP; Liberals (yet to confirm)[24] | September | Munk School of Global Affairs[30] (Toronto) | English language debate on Canada’s foreign policy.[24] |
| General | Conservatives; NDP; Liberals (yet to confirm);[25] Bloc | October 5, 2015[27] | TVA (Montreal) | French language debate.[25] |
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