Mayor Denis Coderre and mayoral challenger Valerie Plante are set to debate each other, in English, on CJAD 800 on Monday, Oct. 23.
CJAD 800's Leslie Roberts will moderate the event at Concordia University's Oscar Peterson Hall. You can follow the proceedings in real time on CJAD 800 and CJAD.com, via livestream at Montreal.CTVNews.ca and on MontrealGazette.com.
The candidates will debate each other head-to-head, in classic debate style — but they will also take questions from Leslie, and from the general public.
Leslie Roberts says, first and foremost, he's hoping to get some substance out of the two candidates.
"We're seeing the politicians right now in the midst of their photo-op tour," he says, "and we're still waiting to find out how much all their promises are going to cost. Ultimately, they're on message. We're going to crack through that message and get the answers that voters want."
As things stand now, the race between Coderre and Plante is a virtual dead heat, with voting day set for Nov. 5.
CJAD 800's Aaron Rand and Gazette journalists Allison Hanes and Linda Gyulai will be on hand to offer pre- and post-debate analysis, while CTV Montreal's Caroline Van Vlaardingen will source audience questions for the two candidates.
Montrealers are being called upong to submit their questions in the runup to the debate. If you have a question you'd like to submit, you can send it off to debate@cjad.com.
This will be their only English-language debate of the campaign. The two are set to debate in French on Oct. 19.