West Coast debate debut

Tonight's debate in French and tomorrow's debate in English signal a new chapter in Canadian election history. They will be the first time debates have been hosted in Western Canada.

Each debate will be broadcast between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST and will include videotaped questions for the leaders from voters across the country. Thursday's debate will be broadcast on CBC Newsworld only, while Friday's debate will be on CBC Newsworld and on CBC-TV. Friday's debate will also be streamed on CBC.ca.

The broadcasting consortium has decided that since the Green party does not have a sitting member in the House of Commons (in fact, no Green candidate has ever been elected as a member of Parliament), Leader Jim Harris will not be included in the debates.