Are leaders debates bad for democracy?

Since at least 1968, Canadians have gotten used to the idea that every federal election campaign will feature at least two leaders debates. One in French, and one in English. 

In recent years, those debates have been controlled by a consortium of major Canadian broadcasters, including the CBC.

But this year, the governing Conservatives threw a wrench in the works when they announced they would not be part of the consortium debates.

Instead, they say they'll take part in other, independently organized debates. But there's no guarantee that the other parties will play along.And that has political watchers fretting about the possibility that they won't get to see their most hoped-for matchups play out in the political ring.

But Toronto political writer John Pepall says we should go a step further and do away with the leaders debates altogether.