CBC's Rosemary Barton to be among federal debate moderators
The English televised debate is set for Oct. 7, the French for Oct. 10
The location and moderators have been named for the upcoming federal election debates in October. The English debate will take place Oct. 7 and the French Oct. 10, both at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.
"The Canadian Museum of History's purpose is to enhance Canadians' knowledge and understanding of the events, experiences, people and objects that shape Canada's identity," Jennifer McGuire, editor in chief of CBC News and member of the of the Canadian Debate Production Partnership (CDPP), said in a statement.
Each debate will have five journalists involved. For the English debate, they will be:
- Rosemary Barton, CBC News
- Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star
- Dawna Friesen, Global News
- Lisa LaFlamme, CTV News
- Althia Raj, HuffPost Canada
Each moderator will guide a different part of the debate.
For the French debate, the moderator will be Patrice Roy from Radio-Canada, with the participation of:
- Hélène Buzzetti, Le Devoir
- Patricia Cloutier, Le Soleil
- François Cardinal, La Presse
- Alec Castonguay, L'actualité
Details of the areas of questioning have not yet been released.
The CDPP says all of the federal leaders invited to participate have accepted: Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier did not meet one of the criteria set out by the Leaders' Debates Commission to participate in the televised debates — specifically, that his party isn't represented in the House of Commons by an MP who was elected as a member of that party. Bernier was elected as a Conservative in 2015. He left to start his own party after a failed Conservative Party leadership run.
The debates will be carried by a consortium of major television broadcasters, including CBC.