Yes.
Evidence of meeting #86 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 debate.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #86 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 debate.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
What about the online feed? Is that available for anyone to use and broadcast in any way? How does that work?
12:35 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
The online features are available, but they have to broadcast it as it appears. They can't edit it. They can't insert advertisements or anything into the period of the debate.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
One of the issues that we're discussing is whether or not such an organization in Canada should be legislated. I know it's a different set-up. Would you see the benefit of having legislation passed requiring a debates commission? Could you discuss that?
12:35 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
If you legislate it, then the funding would have to be secure.
12:35 p.m.
Resource Consultant, Jamaica Debates Commission
Some of our colleagues have gone that route of a debate commission or debate-organizing bodies in other countries. We have never really come to a policy position on that. I think what we would find most useful would be movement towards fixed election dates.
I think there is a sense that public pressure, public opinion, can drive the parties to feel compelled to debate.
At this point I'm not sure that there are many advantages to having it put in legislation.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Thank you to both of you for being with us today to help us out with this study. I appreciate your making some of your time available to us.
You mentioned that the commission had been created by the chamber of commerce and the media association jointly. Is that correct?
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Were they the bodies that then appointed you as chairman and appointed the commission as well? Who appoints that? Is that them, or how are you chosen?
12:35 p.m.
Resource Consultant, Jamaica Debates Commission
The two partners chose the individuals in either entity, the chamber and the Media Association Jamaica. It was those entities that endorsed the participation of, say, Mr. daCosta, and two other commissioners from the chamber because of their whole interest in this area.
The media association did the same thing; it nominated its own three persons from its side. As Noel said, it's a voluntary thing, so they have to be certain that these persons are going to put in the time. It is a lot of time during that lead-up to an election, and so on, and they chose a coalition of the willing, in terms of volunteers, and those would be the commissioners.
12:40 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
These commissioners would have to be persons who have no obvious political leanings and persons whom both parties and the general public would find trustworthy. In choosing the commissioners, both partners keep these criteria in mind.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Is that codified somehow, or is it just informally the process that was put in place?
12:40 p.m.
Resource Consultant, Jamaica Debates Commission
There are no regulations per se. It's just that the debates commission is a creation of these two entities.
12:40 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
As far as the chairman is concerned, the chairman alternates between both partners and is changed after every election cycle.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Okay, so it's kind of an agreement that everyone has and understands.
Would you then say that has served you well and worked well? As a sort of addition to that, for our benefit, have you found that having it be independent from the government—it's not chosen by the government or the political parties—has been something that's important and valuable?
12:40 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
Yes, I think it has served us well since 2002. I think the fact that there is no government intervention in choosing any of the...or having any say at all in the whole Jamaica Debates Commission has worked to our advantage.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
I was curious about the polling you mentioned, which is done following each debate to determine whether it was effective. What kinds of questions are asked to determine that? Is it to get a sense as to whether it was effective in terms of giving people the ability to make a judgment about...like whether the format itself was effective? What type of polling and what types of questions are asked to determine that?
12:40 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
The questions would be to those who watched the debates. We would get some demographic description of those who are responding. Pollsters would ask questions as to whether the debates influenced their decisions in voting.
Some of the questions would be, “Did the debate help you to understand the issues any better? Did it bring clarity to some of the burning questions that the society would ask around the time of the debate? As a result of looking at the debate, would you change your voting intentions?”
12:40 p.m.
Resource Consultant, Jamaica Debates Commission
Or, “Did you change your voting intentions?”
12:40 p.m.
Chairman, Jamaica Debates Commission
Yes. We did these polls, not after the debates but after the elections.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
I guess a metric of success, then, is whether it actually influenced people's decisions on who they voted for. Is that what you're saying? Is that what you're considering as one of the metrics of success, then?
