Evidence of meeting #84 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 debates.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Okay.
You said something that I thought was very interesting. You said that one of the handicaps you face is that the name of the commission makes it sound like it is part of the federal government. Can you elaborate on why that is a handicap and how that impairs your ability to do your job, or on what is the perception that you say results from it?
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
Simply, I think “commission” is actually a really lovely word, but in most countries, and certainly in this country, I think it implies that there has been an official commission given to a person or an entity. In this country, it leads people to assume that we are congressionally chartered and probably congressionally funded. We are neither, as I've made clear.
I don't think it has handicapped our work, thankfully, but it does create an initial misimpression with some people, because they assume that all that they see when a debate starts in fact has been funded by the federal government. It does not occur to them that we are a not-for-profit and we need to raise our own operating funds.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
If somebody has that impression that you're funded by the federal government, why would that be a bad thing?
Conservative
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
If we go to someone and say that we were wondering if they would like to support our educational work, or the work that is involved in putting on the debates, and they ask why they would need to do that because we are federally funded and obviously federally chartered, it's simply one more briefing requirement that you need to go through to have them understand that this is not what we are.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
It's not that you think it would be a bad thing for a government entity to run it.
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
No. I am not saying that it's a bad thing. I think if we're—
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
If Congress came to you and said, “We've decided we're going to fund you; we're going to pass a law and this is going to be the new independent commission”, what would you anticipate your response would be to such an initiative, if it came out of Congress?
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
That would be a big question. It would be one that the board would have to consider very carefully. It wouldn't be that easy. We are a legal entity. For Congress to come and say that would be a totally de novo issue that would have to be addressed.
I am not saying that I think it is a bad concept for you to explore. I think in this country it's a good thing that the commission was established and has run as an independent, non-partisan entity.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Let's say Congress said that they're setting up their own commission to replace you—not to take over you—because they think that would be better. It would be publicly funded. It would level the playing field, and it would deal with these other perceptions that another member asked you about. How would you respond to that kind of initiative?
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
I don't know. That's a very complicated question. One would have to sit down and try to figure out the responsible way to answer it.
Our commitment is to make sure the debates happen. Very early in our first year, I had reason to be in the office of a very senior United States senator with a very senior member of the United States House, who is now an international household word. We were discussing the fact that the League of Women Voters was not very happy about the fact that we had been started. There was some pleading going on about the fact that we should co-sponsor these with the league, that there were different issues designed to try to make it all gentler than it seemed to be going. I will never forget what the senator, a rather colourful western senator, said. I will not repeat it right now, but you can probably imagine, he—
Conservative
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
Yes, I know. It's sad.
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
He turned to his House colleague and said, “You know, the American public doesn't give a”—blank, blank—“who sponsors them. They just want to know they will happen.” There was silence for a few seconds after that, while we all tried not to giggle or feign offence. It was a cogent point that only a westerner could have made with the colourful accent that he put on it.
The point was not to get caught up in the mooring lines. Let's try to make sure that we are focused on.... Look, these debates need to happen. They need to happen predictably. They need to happen in a way the public believes is fair.
Liberal
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thanks very much.
Ms. Brown, thank you for agreeing to help us out on this issue.
We heard from the broadcasters. In your comments you mentioned the concerns of American broadcasters with the date on which you were deciding to air the debates.
What goes into your decision? Our broadcasters came and said to please find the hole in the schedule, so to speak, because that would potentially create a greater audience.
How do you deal with Monday night football, the World Series, and the popular hit TV show on at that time? How do you address those concerns?
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
Mr. Bittle, we try to spread the pain.
We try first of all not to have two debates on any one night, no two debates on a Tuesday, for instance. It's not just the networks' commitments, it is also federal and religious holidays, obviously, in October. It is a very, very difficult task. I've had some very colourful conversations with senior network executives who don't think we quite understand what we're doing here.
Last time I actually volunteered to make one of America's most loved colour commentators on NFL the debate moderator, which didn't seem to go over at that network with the amusement that I thought it carried, but whatever.
You sit down basically 18 to 20 months ahead of time, and try very hard to look at what you can know. Here's one of the dilemmas: Built into the baseball series schedule are travel and rain days. What happens if it's done in five games? What happens if it goes to six or seven games? You inevitably are going to run into something. You just are. We try to run into the fewest number of things. We try to keep open lines of communication. If someone wants to call and use colourful language to say how they feel about it, they are more than welcome to do that.
It's inevitable that you will run into something. You just try to do it in a way that is fair and respectful.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
My time is fairly limited. Are there any potential pitfalls or concerns that your organization runs into that you'd like to highlight for us? That's a bit of an open question, I know, but is there any advice we haven't discussed that you've seen in your work and would like to pass on to our committee?
Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates
No one ever says, “Attagirl.” No one writes us and says, “Wow, that was so great. Thank you. Please keep it up.”
You know this: you are all in public service. You will hear from the critics. You will get beat up a lot. It is very important to try to keep the focus on what the main event is.
For us, it's to make sure the debates happen, and that they happen in a way that is respectful, dignified, and substantive. The rest of it, you have to try to navigate. In our case, it's very helpful that this is all we do. We don't do anything else. We also are mindful that we aren't here to win popularity contests.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
How much time is left, Mr. Chair? One minute.
I'll pass it on to Mr. Graham.
