OTTAWA鈥擶ednesday’s French-language federal leaders’ debate has been moved two hours earlier to 6 p.m. to avoid a direct face off with a potentially crucial hockey game for the Montreal Canadiens.
The new time slot comes as the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh and听Bloc Qu茅b茅cois Leader Yves-Fran莽ois Blanchet both suggested rescheduling the debate, with Singh saying in a statement that Quebecers were being asked “to choose between a critical democratic debate and cheering on the Habs in a must-win game.鈥澨
鈥淭his kind of political discussion shouldn鈥檛 compete with something that means so much to so many,” the statement read.
The Canadiens are in a close race for a playoff spot with the Columbus Blue Jackets. If the Blue Jackets win games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Canadiens would need to win their game Wednesday to clinch a playoff spot.
If the Blue Jackets lose on Tuesday or Wednesday, however, the Canadiens would advance to the playoffs regardless of the outcome of their Wednesday game.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., while the leaders’ debate was initially set to begin at 8 p.m. before it was moved to the earlier slot.
鈥淗ockey is in our blood,鈥 said Singh. 鈥淭his scheduling conflict makes the political system look out of touch and is going to have a serious impact on who tunes in to the only French debate of the campaign.鈥澨
Liberal Leader Mark Carney mentioned the game on Tuesday morning when he was asked about his strategy for the debate, saying he hopes people choose to hear the debate.听
鈥淚 will focus on transparency to inform those Canadians who choose to watch the debate instead of the Habs game and I will leave it to the Habs to decide the right combination of attack and defence,鈥 he said.
In the middle of an election, you鈥檙e probably hearing about polls all the time. But how exactly do polls work? 海角社区官网Star鈥檚 Michelle Mengsu Cheng breaks down how to read a poll, what insight can be gained from looking at them, and whether they can or can鈥檛 be trusted.
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Ryan Tumilty is an Ottawa-based reporter covering Parliament
Hill. Reach him at听rtumilty@thestar.ca听听and follow
him on X:听.
Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal
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