Evidence of meeting #130 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A video is available from Parliament.
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
There will be an office.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
I can't ask you questions about your staff. I know that you will be working with people.
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
Yes, if I am appointed, which is not yet confirmed since I have only been nominated. The discussions are under way. However, there will be a secretariat with a small, but strong, team.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
It's a privilege to have you here. Thank you very much.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will be splitting my seven minutes with Ms. Kusie.
I want to first of all welcome you to the committee, and say, howdy neighbour. Of course, you and Mrs. Johnston are now residents of Lanark County.
It was wonderful to see you at the Brett Pearson Run For Your Life in September. That is one of the best community initiatives in the area, and it meant a lot to them to have you there. Thank you for that.
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
It was a privilege.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I want to draw upon your experience as the moderator of several previous leaders debates federally, in 1979 and 1984, and also the province of Ontario, to ask about dealing with the difficult question of which party leader is in and which party leader is out. That's a decision which you and the advisory panel are going to have to deal with.
That is going to be a vexing question. Could you shed some light on how you're going to handle that?
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
Fortunately, the mandate provides criteria that are very helpful. I thank your committee for the job you have done not only on that question, but a number of questions.
There are three criteria, two of which must be met. The first two are reasonably clear. The third could present some interpretation issues. I and the advisory board will follow those criteria carefully and make the decisions appropriately.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Right.
It seems to me that when you deal with the legitimate chance issue, one has to make a call at some point as to where that stands. Poll numbers go up and down. They're particularly going to be the case if you have a party that contests only in one province, for example. It's a relevant question, because the Bloc Québécois is one of those parties. The margin of error goes up when you're dealing with a smaller sample.
Have you thought about how you're going to deal with the timing issue? At some point, the decision can itself make a significant impact on whether or not that party is going to be able to win seats in the next election.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I know you are not seeking to unduly influence the outcome of the election.
How would you handle that?
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
You have put very good questions, and I don't have the specific answers to them. They will have to be determined at the time, of course, with the advice of the advisory board.
The timing is a very sensitive and important question, and there are arguments on either side of when that time should be. Of course, it's as soon as possible, but if one is looking at political history, at polling, at the interests of that particular party developing its options, there has to be a time for that to come to fruition.
Then there's some interpretation, polling results being one, the history of that particular party and its interests being another, and the third would be what the legitimate chance is for that party to have members in the next Parliament.
There is no answer I can give you at the moment, other than to say that we'll consider all the factors and try to come to a timely and sensible decision.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Right.
An example that comes to my mind as one that would have been very, very difficult to decide had this commission been in existence for that election would be the 1993 election and the case of the National Party, under Mel Hurtig, which came out of nowhere. It appeared to have a real potential, depending on who was looking at it, to win some seats.
It seems to me that there would be merit to the idea of having some arbitrarily chosen point in advance, so as to make sure that no one can interpret the decision as being discretionary, as being the time at which one makes the decision for inclusion for a party for which—not every party will have this problem—the realistic chance of winning seats is one of the two conditions that they need to fulfill.
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
That's a very thoughtful observation. It has the beauty, of course, of precision and clarity. On the other hand, you want to determine how much evidence you need.
We've alluded to earlier precedents and we will look at earlier precedents. I'm a lawyer by training and I'm not sure I should say I enjoy those questions, but that's what we do for a living. When I was governor general, we tried to prepare well for constitutional issues that would arise—
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
—and set up a stream of advice that came independently of the very good advice that we received from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Office of the Clerk of the Privy Council, and the Department of Justice. On legal questions, we used three external people who served pro bono simply to provide that stream of advice.
Without making it too complicated, we would certainly take into account and look at some of the precedents you've suggested. Where there had been a decision made in our jurisdiction or others, we would be guided by those and try to do something that's reasonable.
Conservative
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
I look forward to further advice on those matters.
Thank you.
Stephanie Kusie Calgary Midnapore, CPC
Good morning. Thank you for being here today.
Of course, as a woman, I have tremendous respect for you since you raised four amazing women. Congratulations. I think that's a wonderful accomplishment.
My question is in regard to the extent you plan on engaging with political parties to uphold your mandate.
It's outlined in the leaders debates commission mandate that part of your responsibility would be engaging political parties to negotiate the terms of the debates. This is very vague and allows for a lot of leeway.
I know that you have had much experience before in regard to negotiating and managing groups with competing interests. Based upon your experience, how do you plan to address this consultation?
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
My plan would be consult widely and to ensure that we are consulting with and receiving advice from parties with an important interest in the process. The advisory board itself will be an important body to provide that kind of input and those kinds of thoughts. I will be in contact, of course, with various political parties to seek their advice on those and other questions. I would like to be sure that what we do is inclusive but also transparent and open, and when we make a particular decision, that it's clear and we provide appropriate reasons for it.
Thank you for the comments on women. My wife and I are the parents of five daughters. There are no sons-in-law but—
Nominee for the position of Debates Commisioner, As an Individual
—we have 14 grandchildren: seven boys and seven girls.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Thank you very much.
I should have mentioned at the beginning, David, that if somebody asks you a question not related to your qualifications, you don't have to answer but I'll let you answer if you want.