Conservatives reject latest debate pitch from broadcasters
Conservatives reject latest debate pitch from broadcastersBy Kady O'Malley, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-reject-latest-debate-pitch-from-broadcasters-1.3082475
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The Conservatives have rebuffed the latest offer from Canada's major broadcasters to host two nationally televised leaders' debates at the height of the federal election campaign.
The Broadcast Consortium — which is made up of CBC, Radio Canada, CTV and Shaw/Global — announced Thursday it had reached an agreement in principle with all the major federal political parties except the Conservatives to host two debates — one in English, one in French.
The New Democrats, Liberals, Green Party and Bloc Québécois have all agreed to the proposal, which promises "unprecedented digital reach" through partnerships with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Youtube.
The broadcasters initially said they were "optimistic" that the Conservatives would accept as well.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
And so clearly illustrated by this quote from spokesman Kory Teneycke:
"The prime minister is the prime minister, he's leading in the polls right now, and if the opposition leaders want to debate the prime minister, they know where he is," he said.
"If they don't, because they're scared, then they won't."
I agree that they'll try -- and possibly already have tried -- to change the ground rules.
If the other parties go it alone, they run the risk of tearing each other down so much that the cons will look like the only reasonable choice. On the other hand, lacking the distraction of Harper in the debate, Mulcair might have a better chance of presenting his message and distinguishing himself above the others. Whatever happens, expect the cons to use the most outrageous out-of-context debate clips to smear their opponents.
