Plans at a glance

Debates play an essential role in Canada's democracy as one of the most important events in electoral campaigns. They provide a unique opportunity for voters to observe, together on the same stage, the character, temperament, and unscripted approaches of leaders seeking to be Canada's Prime Minister.

On November 6, 2020, the Government of Canada announced that the Leaders' Debates Commission, originally established to organize debates for the 2019 election, would remain in place to ensure there will be national debates in Canada during the next general election. The Commission consists of a:

• Debates Commissioner: the director of the Commission who, in that capacity, conducts the ordinary business of the Commission, appoints the members of the Secretariat, and will provide a report to Parliament after the debates containing thorough advice with regards to the future of a Commission;
• Advisory Board: selected by the Debates Commissioner, the Board will provide advice with the goal of ensuring that the organization of the leaders' debates benefits from the expertise and experience of its members and that the leaders' debates reflect the public interest;
• Secretariat: responsible for all administrative support, financial monitoring, issues management, research and analysis, and parliamentary reporting.

Throughout 2021–22, the Commission will work with other federal departments and stakeholders to leverage a variety of media so that leaders' debates are broadcast or otherwise made available to Canadians, including those with disabilities, those living in remote communities and those living in official language minority communities.

To accomplish its mandate in 2021–22, the Commission will focus on the following three key objectives:

Standing up the Leaders' Debates Commission

Activities that will support this objective include:

• selecting and establishing a seven-member Advisory Board to the Debates Commissioner;
• hiring employees to manage and implement Commission deliverables;
• entering into contract for the production of the debates; and
• setting participation criteria for the debates.

Promoting awareness of and access to the leaders' debates

Activities that will support this objective include:

• engaging with Canadians to raise awareness about when, where and how to access debates; and
• providing the feed for the debates to Canadians, free of charge.

Preparing reports and analysis for decision-making

Activities that will support this objective include:

• providing a report to Parliament outlining findings and lessons learned; and
• preparing a recommendation for the potential creation, in statute, of a more permanent Leaders' Debates Commission, going forward.

For more information on the Commission's plans, priorities and planned results, see the "Core responsibilities: planned results and resources" section of this report.

Core responsibility: planned results and resources

Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections

Description

The Commission is mandated to organize two leaders' debates for the federal general election – one in each official language. In order to execute its core responsibility, the Commission sets criteria to confirm the participation of eligible party leaders in leaders' debates during general election periods, issues a call for proposals for debate production that seeks to ensure that Canadians have access to these broadcasts, and communicates with Canadians to raise awareness of when, where and how debates can be accessed.

To that end, the Commission works to make the debates a more predictable, reliable, and stable element of federal election campaigns. The desired result is an open and transparent organization of leaders' debates that reaches a broad cross-section of Canadians.

Planning highlights

Ensuring the leaders' debates are available to all Canadians

• The Commission will ensure that the leaders' debates are broadcast free of charge and otherwise made available in an accessible way to persons with disabilities.
• The Commission will seek to ensure that the debates reach as many Canadians as possible, including those living in remote areas and those living in official language minority communities, through a variety of media and other fora, and paying special attention to Canada's Indigenous languages.
• Following the debates, the Commission will conduct an evidence-based assessment of the leaders' debates that it has organized, including with respect to the number of persons to whom the debates were accessible and the number.

Maintaining the highest standards for the leaders' debates

• The Commission will conduct any necessary research or rely on any applicable research to ensure that the leaders' debates are of high quality.
• The Commission will ensure that any reproduction of the leaders' debates is subject to only the terms and conditions that are necessary to preserve the integrity of the debates.
• The Commission will also provide advice and support in respect of other political debates related to the general election, including candidates' debates, as the Debates Commissioner considers appropriate.

Planned results for organize leaders' debates for federal general elections

Departmental result	Departmental result indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	2017–18 actual result	2018–19 actual result	2019–20 actual result
Canadians are aware of and have access to debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission	Number of Canadians who have access to debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission	The proportion of Canadians having access to debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission exceeds comparable figures from the previous election	March 2022	N/A	N/A	English debate: 35,334,001 French debate: 35,334,001
	Number of Canadians who view debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission	The proportion of Canadians viewing the debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission exceeds comparable figures from the previous election	March 2022	N/A	N/A	English debate: 14,129,000 French debate: 5,023,435

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote i}

Planned budgetary financial resources for Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections

2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
4,835,025	4,835,025	0	0

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase. ^{Footnote ii}

Planned human resources for Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections

2021–22 planned full-time equivalents	2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents
6.8	0	0

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase. ^{Footnote iii}

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Financial Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Real Property Management Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Acquisition Management Services

Planning highlights

Internal Services functions will be provided to the Commission by the Privy Council Office (PCO) through a Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties covering the 2021–22 fiscal year.

Planned budgetary financial resources for Internal Services

2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
0	0	0	0

Planned human resources for Internal Services

2021–22 planned full-time equivalents	2022–23 planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents
0	0	0

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department's planned spending and human resources for the next three consecutive fiscal years and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years' actual spending.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2018–19 to 2023–24

Text description

	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23	2023-24
Statutory	14,546	96,533	21,396	139,370	0	0
Voted	127,247	3,636,336	651,665	4,695,655	0	0
Total	141,793	3,732,869	673,061	4,835,025	0	0

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services (dollars)

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2018–19 expenditures	2019–20 expenditures	2020–21 forecast spending	2021–22 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2021–22 planned spending	2022–23 planned spending	2023–24 planned spending
Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections	141,793	3,732,870	673,061	4,835,025	4,835,025	0	0
Subtotal	141,793	3,732,870	673,061	4,835,025	4,835,025	0	0
Internal Services	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	141,793	3,732,870	673,061	4,835,025	4,835,025	0	0

Planned human resources

Human resources planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services

Core responsibility and Internal Services	2018–19 actual full‑time equivalents	2019–20 actual full‑time equivalents	2020–21 forecast full‑time equivalents	2021–22 planned full‑time equivalents	2022–23 planned full‑time equivalents	2023–24 planned full‑time equivalents
Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections	0.7	5.4	0.9	6.8	0	0
Subtotal	0.7	5.4	0.9	6.8	0	0
Internal Services	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0.7	5.4	0.9	6.8	0	0

Estimates by vote

Information on the Commission's organizational appropriations is available in the 2021–22 Main Estimates . ^{Footnote iv}

Future-oriented Condensed statement of operations

The future‑oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of the Commission's operations for 2020–21 to 2021–22.

The amounts for forecast and planned results in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future‑oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, will be available on the Commission's website in the coming year.

Future‑oriented Condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2022 (dollars)

Financial information	2020–21 forecast results	2021–22 planned results	Difference (2021–22 planned results minus 2020–21 forecast results)
Total expenses	5,805,739	4,856,873	(948,866)
Total revenues	0	0	0
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	5,805,739	4,856,873	(948,866)

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc
Institutional head: David Johnston, Debates Commissioner
Ministerial portfolio: President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Enabling instrument(s): Order in Council P.C. 2018-1322
Year of incorporation / commencement: 2018

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

"Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do" is available on the Leaders' Debates Commission's website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the Commission's website.

Reporting framework

The Commission's approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2021–22 are as follows.

Text description

Departmental Results Framework	Core Responsibility: Organize Leaders' Debates for federal general elections		Internal Services
	Departmental Result: Canadians are aware of and have access to debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission	Indicator: Number of Canadians who have access to debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission.
		Indicator: Number of Canadians who view debates organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission
Program Inventory	Program: Leaders' Debates

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Commission's program inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote v}

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information table will be available on the Commission's website in the coming year:

• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The Commission's Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2021–22.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government­‑wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.^{Footnote vi} This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Leaders' Debates Commission
155 Queen Street
3rd floor – Suite 301
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A3

Email: info@debates-debats.ca
Website(s): www.debates-debats.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of a department over a 3‑year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité ministérielle)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department's core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn't. Experimentation is related to, but distinct form innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2021–22 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2020 Speech from the Throne, namely: Protecting Canadians from COVID-19; Helping Canadians through the pandemic; Building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; The Canada we're fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all of the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome (résultat stratégique)

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization's mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

Endnotes