The trouble(s) with a fixed election date
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is no underdog in the lead-up to this fall's federal election, and nowhere is that clearer than in his Conservative Party's approach to the national debates.
"The Prime Minister is the champ and his people are setting the rules. I think every Canadian should be concerned about that,"Jean-Pierre Kingsley, former head of Elections Canada, told Evan Solomon in an interview on CBC Radio's The House.
"What I'm watching right now is a champion boxer establishing the ground rules under which he will participate in another championship fight," he added. "And we know that the champion has the upper hand."
Kingsley is sounding the alarm on what he sees as a new pre-campaigning style that's emerged thanks to Canada's first fixed-date election scheduled for October 19. The leaders' debates are just one consequence of the new system, he said.
In the past, elections occurred at least once every five years, and recent campaign periods were between 36 - 55 days in length. The limited campaign time frame and rules on spending and government advertising were important controls on politicians, said Kingsley.
"During an election campaign, the 36 days the campaign is on, the parties can only spend so much, approximately $20 million," he said.
"Candidates can only spend up to about $80,000. But if they're allowed to start campaigning before the official start of the campaign now, then what they're doing is spending more money. Who's favoured by this? The people with more money."
Goodbye, level playing field
The result, in Kingsley's opinion?
"Eventually what we're going to see is the erosion of the financial controls that Canada has been developing over several generations," he said.
"When we lose the financial controls we lose the ability to maintain what we call the level playing field, which is at the very core of our electoral act."
The former Chief Electoral Officer is calling for the establishing of an independent regulator — an elections commissioner — to act as a campaign watchdog who would consult with the parties and work with traditional and emerging media to determine the number and nature of the debates.
"It would get that out of the direct hands of the politicians...and keep one thing in mind, the overarching concern with the public good," Kingsley said.
"What we're seeing here is the rules being changed by one party, and we know which party that is," he said.
"Really what we're begging for is the recognition that we're going to have to put this in the hands of an independent person to make these very important decisions."
The debate over debates
Conservative spokesperson Kory Teneycke defended his party's unorthodox position on the debates in a separate panel discussion on The House with New Democrat and Liberal representatives.
"Let's not confuse the way it's been done in the past as being a formal process," Teneycke said. "There's maybe a tradition around it, but there's no body in Canada in the past that looked at this.
"To try and characterize it, as some have, as abandoning some sort of legitimate process to the wild west, I'm not sure that's true."
The Conservatives have accepted invitations for two additional English-language debates: one focusing on economic issues hosted by The Globe and Mail and Google and streamed online; and a debate on Canadian foreign policy to be held under the Munk Debates banner.
The NDP has signalled willingness to attend these debates.
The Conservatives are expected to announce one additional French-language debate in the next few days.