On Apr. 17, Montréal held the Leaders’ Debate in English prior to advanced polling opening for the upcoming federal election. Afterward, a scrum — where accredited news and media outlets ask the leaders follow up questions — is typically held. According to NOW Toronto, the Leaders’ Debates Commission Executive Director Michel Cormier called the scrum off just moments before it was set to occur due to ill-fitting circumstances.
“Sorry to announce that there will be no scrum tonight for the news because we don’t feel that we can actually guarantee a proper environment for this activity.”
There is speculation that the cancellation is due to stirring between reporters and several right-winged organizations such as Rebel News, who took the Leaders’ Debates Commission to court in 2019 and 2021 over accreditation for the event.
All of this comes after two other last minute changes from the Commission. One being the French leaders’ debate starting earlier due to the timing of the game that secured the Montréal Canadiens a spot in the Stanley Cup play-offs. The other was that neither of the Green Party’s co-leaders were present at the debate due to a failure to meet the candidate requirements for participation.
