Ontario election TV debate to follow head-to-head format

Leaders of Ontario’s three major political parties will go head-to-head in the television debate ahead of the Oct. 6 provincial election.

Format details of the televised debate, which is set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday Sept. 27, were released Tuesday. The debate will be broadcast across Ontario’s five major television networks, including the CBC.

The debate will feature leaders of all three major political parties: Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner is opposing a decision to leave his party out of the debate.

The debate will be moderated by Steve Paikin, host of the TVO current affairs program The Agenda.

The debate will have six rounds, with each featuring a head-to-head debate between two of the three party leaders.

In each round, two leaders will debate for six minutes. The third leader will then join the other two for a three-person debate for the subsequent eight minutes.

The sequence of debates is as follows:

Round 1: Hudak/McGuinty. Round 2: Horwath/Hudak. Round 3: McGuinty/Horwath. Round 4: McGuinty/Hudak. Round 5: Hudak/Horwath. Round 6: Horwath/McGuinty.

After the head-to-head debates, each leader will give closing statements.

Ontario voters can also submit questions for use during the televised debate. Questions emailed to: [email protected] will be considered up until Sept. 20.