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OTTAWA — Canadians may be doing some channel surfing on debate night Oct. 2 as the event competes with the U.S. vice-presidential debate.
“A lot of Canadians are paying a lot of attention to the American presidential campaign,” says Harold Chorney, political scientist at Concordia University in Montreal.
“Some Canadians will be conflicted, I am sure — even myself, I will be conflicted. It is an unfortunate scheduling issue. I don't know who dreamt up the schedule, but they should rethink it.”
The American presidential race has kept many citizens on both sides of the border glued to their television screens. And it's the female candidates in the Canadian and American races that may have many struggling to decide which event to watch.
A crowd gathered inside an airport hanger listens as Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during her welcome home rally in Fairbanks, Alaska, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. (Eric Risberg/AP Photo)
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The American vice-presidential debate became must-see TV when Republican hockey mom Sarah Palin entered the race last month as the running mate for John McCain.
And Green Leader Elizabeth May generated water-cooler talk only days into the election campaign with her inclusion in this year's leaders debate in Ottawa.
The participation of Ms. May will help sustain interest in the debate, says Christopher Waddell, associate director of Carleton University's School of Journalism in Ottawa.
“If they weren't interested before, the little kerfuffle may even get more people watching just to see how Ms. May does.”
Technology may save the day for some political junkies, with people relying on devices that can record one event while viewers watch the other.
“I think people will rally around technology and figure out a way to do both at once,” says Kady O'Malley, online political journalist with Maclean's magazine.
“I wouldn't be surprised if people were willing to tape one (debate) while watching the other.”
The broadcast consortium, representing CTV, CBC, Radio-Canada, Global and TVA, is responsible for televising the debates, one in French on Oct. 1 and the other in English the following night.
It takes extensive planning to organize these events and it's not realistic to change the timing to accommodate American politics, said consortium spokesman Jason MacDonald.
“You are always going to be up against something else. It's television — there's always going to be something else on.”
