French leaders’ debate moved up one day

The French language leaders’ debate has been moved up a day to Wednesday, from Thursday.

The consortium agreed to it so the leaders wouldn’t compete for attention when the Montreal Canadiens go up against the Boston Bruins in their opening playoff game.

The request was made by Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who was the first to point out that interest and viewership would be split, if not favour, the opening game between the Habs and Boston on Thursday night.

There wasn’t any pushback from the other leaders. In fact, NDP Leader Jack Layton said if he wasn’t in the middle of the campaign, he’d be watching the game instead of the debate as well.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, whose second passion is hockey, certainly gets it, and so does the revenue-seeking television consortium.

Meanwhile, there is little action on the campaign trail, Monday, as the leaders start looking ahead to their only head-to-head televised debates of the election campaign.

Only Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is putting in a full day of public appearances and that’s because she wasn’t invited to Tuesday’s English language debate or Wednesday’s French-language one.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is hoping to galvanize the youth vote at an eastern Ontario college before making the two-hour road trip to Ottawa to prepare for the debates.

The Liberals are trying to hold on to the Kingston riding of former House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken, who isn’t expected to show up for the event.

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