THE CREATION OF AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONER RESPONSIBLE FOR LEADERS’ DEBATES Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs The Honourable Larry Bagnell, Chair MARCH 2018 42nd PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION Published under the authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons SPEAKER’S PERMISSION The proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees are hereby made available to provide greater public access. The parliamentary privilege of the House of Commons to control the publication and broadcast of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees is nonetheless reserved. All copyrights therein are also reserved. Reproduction of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees, in whole or in part and in any medium, is hereby permitted provided that the reproduction is accurate and is not presented as official. This permission does not extend to reproduction, distribution or use for commercial purpose of financial gain. 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For greater certainty, this permission does not affect the prohibition against impeaching or questioning the proceedings of the House of Commons in courts or otherwise. The House of Commons retains the right and privilege to find users in contempt of Parliament if a reproduction or use is not in accordance with this permission. Also available on the House of Commons website at the following address: www.ourcommons.ca The Creation of an Independent Commissioner Responsible for Leaders’ Debates Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Hon. Larry Bagnell Chair MARCH 2018 42nd PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION NOTICE TO READER Reports from committee presented to the House of Commons Presenting a report to the House is the way a committee makes public its findings and recommendations on a particular topic. Substantive reports on a subject-matter study usually contain a synopsis of the testimony heard, the recommendations made by the committee, as well as the reasons for those recommendations. STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS CHAIR Hon. Larry Bagnell VICE-CHAIRS David Christopherson Blake Richards MEMBERS Chris Bittle Scott Reid David de Burgh Graham Ruby Sahota Andy Fillmore* Scott Simms Kevin Lamoureux* Filomena Tassi John Nater OTHER MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WHO PARTICIPATED Frank Baylis Paul Lefebvre Kelly Block Elizabeth May Pierre-Luc Dusseault Marco Mendicino Randall Garrison Christine Moore Gudie Hutchings Jamie Schmale Kamal Khera Hon. Peter Van Loan Tom Kmiec Kevin Waugh * Non-voting member, pursuant to Standing Order 104(5). iii CLERK OF THE COMMITTEE Andrew Lauzon LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT Parliamentary Information and Research Service Andre Barnes, Analyst Michaela Keenan-Pelletier, Analyst iv THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS has the honour to present its FIFTY-FIFTH REPORT Pursuant to its mandate under Standing Order 108(3)(a)(vi), the Committee has studied the Creation of an Independent Commissioner Responsible for Leaders’ Debates and has agreed to report the following: v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................. 1 THE CREATION OF AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONER RESPONSIBLE FOR LEADERS’ DEBATES .............................................................................................................................. 5 BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................... 5 i. Historical overview of televised federal party leaders’ debates .............. 5 ii. Organization and legal framework of debates ............................................. 12 iii. Role of federal party leaders’ debates in Canada ........................................ 14 iv. Recent federal party leaders' debates ............................................................. 15 v. Exploring changes to how federal leaders’ debates are organized in Canada .................................................................................................................... 17 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................... 19 A. Mandate of an entity responsible for organizing federal party leaders’ debates ............................................................................................................................... 19 B. Establishing an entity responsible for organizing federal party leaders’ debates ............................................................................................................................... 21 i. Federal party leaders’ debates facilitator or commissioner .................. 23 ii. Broadcasting Arbitrator ....................................................................................... 24 iii. Other considerations ............................................................................................. 26 C. Powers of an entity responsible for organizing federal party leaders’ debates ............................................................................................................................... 27 i. Establishing criteria for participation by political parties in a federal party leaders’ debate ............................................................................................. 27 ii. Ensuring accessible federal party leaders’ debates for Canadians with disabilities ........................................................................................................ 29 iii. Ensuring a minimum number of debates ...................................................... 31 iv. Decisions related to broadcasting the federal party leaders’ debates ........................................................................................................................ 32 (a) The role of an organizing entity for leaders’ debates in making broadcasting-related decisions ................................................................. 33 vii (b) Timing of leaders’ debates .......................................................................... 35 (c) Cost of the leaders’ debates ........................................................................ 36 (d) Journalistic standards ................................................................................... 37 v. Enforcement of Participation ............................................................................. 37 vi. Miscellaneous matters .......................................................................................... 39 (a) Review of entity .............................................................................................. 39 (b) Timeline for establishing an independent debate organizing entity ................................................................................................................... 39 Appendix A: List of witnesses ................................................................................................................. 41 Appendix B: List of briefs ......................................................................................................................... 45 Request for Government Response ..................................................................................................... 47 Dissenting Opinion of the Conservative Party of Canada ........................................................... 49 viii LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below. Recommendation 1 That the government should proceed with establishing a new entity to organize leaders’ debates during federal elections and that entity should be established in time to organize debates during the 2019 federal general election; That this new entity must be created in such a way to ensure its independence and neutrality; That the new entity be mandated to educate Canadians about how debates are organized, when debates are occurring, and how Canadians can experience the debates. ................................................................................................................... 21 Recommendation 2 That a new autonomous office be created by the government called Canada’s Federal Party Leaders’ Debates Commissioner (for short: “Debates Commissioner”). The office should be placed within Elections Canada/the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer for the purposes of sharing appropriate internal services and receiving administrative support