Liberal Party Announces Plans for 2 Leadership Debates

The lectern is installed before keynote addresses at the 2023 Liberal National Convention in Ottawa on May 4, 2023. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

The Liberal Party says it will host two debates for leadership candidates, both planned for later this month in Montreal.

The debates will take place about two weeks before the party said it would choose its new leader, who will replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The party announced on Feb. 8 that the French debate will happen on Feb. 24 and the English debate on Feb. 25. The new leader is slated to be selected on March 9.

Trudeau announced on Jan. 6 that he would step down as soon as a new leader was elected. He also prorogued Parliament until March 24.

No details on the structure of the debates have been released.

Former deputy prime minister and Liberal leadership hopeful Chrystia Freeland had called for four debates. She said there should be two in each official language.

Former House Leader and leadership contender Karina Gould had also called for a debate.

The debate announcement comes a day after the candidates had another financial hurdle to meet in the campaign. Those running were expected to pay $125,000 of the $350,000 entry fee by Feb. 7. Candidates have already made two payments of $50,000 each.

They will need to make a final $125,000 instalment by Feb. 17.

Current candidates include former central banker Mark Carney, Freeland, Gould, Former Liberal MP and Montreal businessman Frank Baylis, and former MP Ruby Dhalla.

Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste dropped out of the running about a week ago, when the second $50,000 payment was due. He said his campaign had struggled to raise enough money in such a short time.

The Liberal Party said about 400,000 people have registered to vote in the leadership campaign.

A recent Abacus survey looked at the top three contenders in the race: Carney, Freeland and Gould. It found that Carney had the most support with the general public, at 33 percent. Freeland had 29 percent support, and Gould had 12 percent.

The party has also been gaining in the polls since the leadership race was announced.

On Feb. 6, Ipsos said the Liberals had gained 8 points since January, bringing the party’s support to 28 percent. However, even with a 5-point drop, the Conservative Party of Canada is still leading with 41 percent, Ipsos said.

That poll was conducted between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3, and was commissioned by Global News.

The Canadian Press contributed to this article.