ADQ Leader Mario Dumont will speak first in the opening round of the province's televised campaign debate on March 13.
Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair will be second at the podium, and Liberal Leader Jean Charest will speak last.
The consortium of Quebec's French-language television networks determined the order of Tuesday's debate in a random draw, as is customary in Quebec election campaigns.
After giving their opening remarks, leaders will square off against each other for 20 minutes on five different subjects: health, the environment, the economy, education, and Quebec's future. Each leader will have the right to speak uninterrupted on each issue before debating with each other in a freestyle format.
Charest will speak first, followed by Dumont and Boisclair, in the closing remarks portion of the televised debate.
Veteran Quebec broadcaster Jacques Moisan will moderate the debate, which will be held at the national assembly in Quebec City. He's known best as former chief correspondent and anchor for TVA, where he worked for 17 years.
The consortium of French-language media decided to only invite leaders of parties currently holding seats at the national assembly, a decision that shut out Green Party Leader Scott MacKay and Québec Solidaire Leader Francoise David.
The consortium said it made its decision based on past election results and vote intentions polled over the last year.
David approached Quebec elections director Marcel Blanchet early in the campaign to ask that he intervene in the debate format, but he declined to get involved, explaining he doesn't have the legal power to force the consortium to invite smaller political parties.
David said she approached Radio-Canada and TVA before the election was even called to ask that she be included in the debate. She told Canadian Press her request was not acknowledged at either media outlet.
Québec Solidaire has filed a formal complaint with the province's press council, accusing the consortium of depriving voters of their right to hear from all political parties running in the campaign.
Québec Solidaire spokesman Amir Khadir said there is a precedent for his party to be included in the debate: ADQ Leader Mario Dumont had to fight in 1994 to be included and now he's a regular invitee.
The Press Council has said it won't be able to rule on the complaint before the March 13 debate.
The debate gets underway at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised live on Radio-Canada, TVA, Télé-Québec, RDI and LCN.
Quebecers go to the polls on March 26th.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
Internal Links
| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | 48 | 0 | 48 | 33.08% |
| ADQ | 41 | 0 | 41 | 30.80% |
| PQ | 36 | 0 | 36 | 28.32% |
| QS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.65% |
| GRN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.89% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .26% |
| Last Update:March 27, 12:52:21 AM EDT | ||||
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