Federal leaders' debates scheduled for April 16-17 in Montreal

Catharine Tunney · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 24, 2025 11:08 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

The leaders of the main national governmental parties volition beryllium invited to a look disconnected successful mid-April — if they conscionable definite criteria, announced the Leaders' Debates Commission Monday.

The commission, a authorities bureau created successful 2018 to signifier national leaders' debates, said the French statement volition instrumentality spot April 16 astatine 8 p.m. ET and the English statement volition beryllium held April 17 astatine 7 p.m. ET.

Both events volition beryllium hosted astatine the Maison de Radio-Canada successful Montreal.

Leaders of a registered governmental enactment tin lone enactment if they conscionable astatine slightest 2 of 3 criteria.

The commission's archetypal request is that the leader's enactment had to beryllium represented successful the House of Commons by astatine slightest 1 MP earlier dissolution. 

The 2nd is that the leader's enactment indispensable beryllium polling astatine slightest 4 per cent 28 days earlier voting day. The committee says voting volition volition beryllium determined utilizing the astir caller results of "leading nationalist national sentiment polling organizations."

The 3rd request is that the enactment indispensable person candidates nominated successful astatine slightest 90 per cent of national ridings crossed Canada 28 days earlier the national election.

The committee said it volition denote which leaders volition beryllium invited to enactment connected April 1

The threshold to enactment this clip astir differs from 2021 when a enactment person lone had to conscionable 1 of the 3 conditions. 

Earlier this year, People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Berner, who did not enactment successful the 2021 leaders' statement due to the fact that his enactment could not conscionable 1 of the 3 requirements, took purpose astatine the regularisation alteration for 2025. 

"This alteration lone has 1 evident purpose, 1 that unites the full governmental constitution successful Ottawa," helium said erstwhile the criteria was announced. "These caller rules lone impact me, the person of the lone caller enactment to look forcefully connected the national governmental country successful decades."

Commission changing format this year

The committee is besides moving up with a simpler and much flexible format this twelvemonth that it says volition promote "meaningful exchanges betwixt the leaders."

Last year, the committee announced that dissimilar the 2021 debate, wherever journalists were allowed to inquire the leaders questions, the adjacent statement volition beryllium restricted to a azygous moderator and the leaders themselves. 

The committee picked CBC/Radio-Canada to nutrient and enactment connected the debates, and named longtime TVO writer Steve Paikin to big the English-language debate. Radio-Canada's Patrice Roy volition big the French-language debate. 

Other broadcasters and media organizations tin administer the statement connected their platforms for free, the committee said.

The commission's reappraisal of its 2021 format recovered that the debates "did not present arsenic good arsenic they should person connected informing voters astir parties' policies."

"A statement emerged among the stakeholders consulted that the format was excessively rigid, excessively complex, excessively confusing, progressive excessively galore journalists connected signifier and did not sufficiently make statement betwixt the leaders," the study said.