Party leaders didn't take media questions after the English debate. Here's why

OTTAWA — In a surprise move, the Leaders’ Debates Commission abruptly cancelled the media availabilities that were set to happen with each leader after the English-language debate. The decision was officially announced after the debate by the commission’s executive director, Michel Cormier, after an earlier verbal altercation between employees of some right-wing media outlets and some journalists who were present to cover Thursday evening’s English-language face-off in Montreal. “I’m sorry to announce that there will be no scrum tonight with the leaders, because we don’t feel that we can actually guarantee a proper environment for this activity,” said Cormier, who repeated the statement in French. The head of the taxpayer-funded organization did not take any questions. The announcement came amid rising tension between various journalists and right-wing outlet members, particularly Rebel News. The sudden decision was the third such last-minute changes announced by the commission in 48 hours. On the eve of Wednesday’s French debate, the commission suddenly decided to start it two hours earlier because the 8 p.m. start time conflicted with a key Montreal Canadiens game. On the morning of the face-off, it decided to boot Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault for failing to have the requisite number of candidates to be eligible. Part of the commission’s mandate is to “make debates a more predictable, reliable, and stable element of federal election campaigns.” It was set up by the Trudeau Liberals in 2018, eliminating individual leaders’ election debates that had been traditionally hosted by media outlets. Commission head Michel Cormier spent most of Thursday explaining how Rebel News was granted more questions than most mainstream outlets during the media availabilities after Wednesday evening’s French-language debate . The Leaders’ Debates Commission agreed to bypass its general rule of granting only one media pass per organization after Rebel News threatened to sue the commission. Rebel News and other right-wing outlets peppered questions at Liberal Leader Mark Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh after Wednesday’s debate. Singh in particular got four questions from Rebel News, which he refused to answer, as has been his usual practice for years with Rebel News, during his brief media availability on Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, Cormier told CBC that he was unaware that Rebel News founder Ezra Levant also runs a third-party campaign advertiser registered with Elections Canada. After a tense discussion broke out between Levant and journalists who were covering the event, National Post saw Cormier and others pull Levant into a hallway adjacent to the media room, where they spoke for about 10 minutes. Despite the cancellation of the post-debate scrums organized by the commission, Singh held his own press conference in a hotel in Montreal after Thursday’s event concluded. Earlier in the day, Carney said he still believes Leaders’ Debates Commission should be handling the debates. “I think there’s value in having an independent body that sets the rules for the debate and prosecutes them. I think some of the decisions, I’m sure, will be called into question but I don’t think it’s for the political leaders to be making those determinations,” he said. With files from Christopher Nardi. National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

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