What happened during the federal leaders’ English debate? Here are the highlights Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government created the debates commission after winning the 2015 election.In that campaign, the traditional English debate organized by a consortium of television networks, was scuppered after then-prime minister Stephen Harper refused to participate.Five other debates were held but reached far fewer viewers.Even before then, the consortium debates had been criticized for allowing the big parties to threaten non-participation in order to dictate the terms of the debates.
The Green party alleged that its leader had been systematically excluded as a result.The TV networks had also been criticized for caring more about putting on a good.