section_path: Campaign/Leaders' debates
section_name: Leaders' debates
paragraph_text: Leaders' debates
  
  In its May 2022 report, the Leaders' Debates Commission recommended various improvements for future debates, and that it remain a permanent publicly funded entity to organize leaders' debates. In October 2024, the Leaders' Debate Commission announced that the English-language debate would be hosted by TVO 's Steve Paikin, while the French-language debate would be hosted by Ici RDI 's Patrice Roy. TVA Nouvelles had announced plans to host its own French-language debate with the Bloc, Conservative, Liberal, and NDP leaders, but cancelled the event after the Liberal Party withdrew.
  
  On April 1, 2025, the commission announced that it had invited the leaders of the Bloc Québécois, Conservative Party, Green Party, Liberal Party, and New Democratic Party to the debates. Invitations were issued on the basis of meeting at least two of three conditions: having at least one sitting MP, recording at least 4% support in national opinion polling, and endorsing candidates in at least 90 percent of ridings. The Green Party's invitation was rescinded on April 16 as it ultimately ran candidates in 232 ridings (less than 70 percent) despite earlier submitting to the Commission that it would run candidates in every riding. The People's Party was not invited, as it did not meet the criteria of either holding a seat in Parliament or polling at least 4%.
  
  On April 15, the leaders of the Bloc Québécois and the NDP suggested rescheduling the French language debate because of the debate coinciding with the final hockey game of the Montreal Canadiens ' regular season, after it became clear the game would decide whether the Canadiens would make the playoffs. The Commission declined to reschedule the debate to a different day, but agreed to move the start time two hours earlier to 6:00 pm EDT.
  
  A post-debate news scrum after the French language debate was dominated by the far-right Rebel News and other right-wing media outlets, leading to complaints from other journalists at the event. Michel Cormier, the commission's executive director, responded that he was "unaware" that Rebel News and another organization associated with Rebel founder Ezra Levant were registered as third-party advertisers with Elections Canada. In an interview, David Cochrane of CBC News asked Cormier about the fairness of the distribution of questions among outlets and the type of questions asked. Cormier responded, "There's only so much we can do to control free speech." During the English language debate the next day, CTV News and The Globe and Mail reported a disturbance between Levant and journalists from other outlets, and a Global News reporter suggested that Rebel staff tried to interfere with the live broadcast of the debate. Cormier abruptly cancelled the planned news scrum, citing security concerns, as Montreal Police secured the venue.