OTTAWA — The Conservative Party wants to increase the number of election debates, but also expand who gets to host them.
The consortium of Canadian broadcasters who traditionally host the leaders' debates had proposed four such meetings ahead of the October 19 vote, but the Conservatives prefer to explore other options, the party said in a statement Tuesday.
"We believe the diversity and innovation inherent in different debate sponsors and approaches is valuable," party spokesman Kory Teneycke said in the statement.
"Therefore we have decided to decline the proposal from the broadcast consortium for four debates, which for practical purposes would effectively exclude other media and organizations capable of hosting debates of this nature."
The party has already accepted an offer from TVA for a French language debate and one from Macleans/Rogers for an English language debate.
The Conservatives are willing to take part in another French debate and up to two more English ones, for a total of five debates, the statement said.
The statement did not specifically rule out participating in a debate organized by the consortium, which has been meeting with the federal political parties in recent weeks to try and set the terms of the events.
At least one other media organization, The Globe and Mail, has said publicly it has submitted a proposal to host a debate.
The Canadian Press
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