The Creation of an Independent Commissioner Responsible for Leaders' Debates /

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 provi [...] 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. [...] The French debate had four thematic segments: unemployment, the economy and quality of life, the role of government, and the future of minorities. [...] Similarly, the Executive Director of the U. S. Commission on Presidential Debates expressed the view that the presidential debates in the U. S. were the last campaign event that belonged solely to the public.51 The Committee only heard testimony and written submissions to the effect that the current manner by which party leaders’ debates have been organized and broadcast could benefit from an exam [...] For example, the Committee heard that the office of the U. S. Commission on Presidential Debates consists most of the time of an Executive Director and an assistant.69 Furthermore, an organizing entity would need to be independent of the media and political parties in order to limit the incursion of strategic and business interests on the democratic role of debates.70 The debates commissions in bo