As BC voters prepare for an upcoming election on October 24, the British Columbia Broadcast Consortium will be hosting a live debate to air on TV, radio and digital platforms between the B.C. party leaders.
The debate will feature BC NDP leader John Horgan, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson, and BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau.
The 90-minute televised debate will take place live on Tuesday, Oct. 13 between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
According to a press release about the debate, the conversation will be moderated by Shachi Kurl – president of the Angus Reid Institute.
“There will be direct questions to the candidates about current issues in BC and there will be opportunity for head-to head debate between the individual party leaders,” reads a description of the event.
The 2020 Leaders Debate will be hosted ahead of the opening of advanced polling stations, which start on Oct.15 and will run for seven days until Oct.21.
The scheduled debate is also intended to be held early enough to give voters time to send in their mail-in ballots.
Elections BC has already seen nearly half a million British Columbians send in requests for mail-in ballot packages amid the global pandemic.
Officials with the voting agency have said they expect to see around 800,000 residents use the mail-in voting system – a huge spike from the 6,500 voters who sent mail-in ballots during the 2017 election.
There will be no live audience at the debate venue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and reporters are being asked to watch the debate remotely. Post-debate media availability with the leaders will be at the discretion of each political party and will be facilitated by them.
2020 BC Leaders Debate is presented by the British Columbia Broadcast Consortium, a group to which CHEK is a member.
Before the leaders’ debate, there will also be a debate between New Democrat candidate George Heyman, the B.C.Liberal’s Peter Milobar and Green party candidate Adam Olsen. The three will debate climate change and the economy in an online forum on Thursday.
Heyman served as minister of environment and climate change strategy in the NDP cabinet, Olsen acted as interim leader of the Green party before Sonia Furstenau’s election, and Milobar was the Liberal party’s labour critic.
The online debate is presented by the Pembina Institute, a non-profit organization advocating for clean energy, and Catalyst Business Alliance, a group of Canadian companies that support a cleaner economy.
A panel of B.C. business leaders will put questions to the three politicians and the audience will also have a chance to weigh in.
The leaders’ debate will be live on CHEK on Oct. 13. More information will be released.
With files from The Canadian Press
Graham Cox
