EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

Tom Axworthy, former principal secretary to prime minister Pierre Trudeau and now chair of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University wishes to remove Bloc Québécois(a French speaking Canadian political party) from the televised English-language leaders' debate in future elections. Axworhty says "Since the Bloc runs no candidates in English-speaking Canada, he said, why should its leader take up 25 per cent of the time in a televised English debate?" Also Axworthy wants to make debates mandatory for leaders and punish leaders who did not participate by cutting public money provided by his or her political party.
"Mr. Axworthy's centre also recommends that the Canada Elections Act create a Canadian Debates Commission to regulate the debates and take them away from the vagaries of the television networks. And in the final weeks of the campaign, the two leaders whose parties are highest in the public-opinion polls would square off against each other in one last televised debate."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/report-calls-for-overhaul-of-political-debates/article1283068/



Should French political parties not be aired on English-language televised debates? Even though approximately 23% of Canadas population speaks French?