Even with the pain of Trump tariffs and threats of becoming the 51st state, Canada’s approaching election is moving aside for the Canadiens.
Wednesday’s primetime debate between the leaders of the five main political parties in the Great North has changed its start time to avoid clashing with a hockey game that could lurch the Montreal Canadiens into this year’s NHL playoffs.
Originally set to kick off at 8 pm ET in the Quebec metropolis and seen live across Canada, the meeting between newbie PM and Liberal leader Mark Carney, Conservative chief Pierre Poilievre and the heads of the New Democratic Party, the separatist Bloc Québécois and the Green Party will now face off in French at 6 pm ET. Broadcast nationwide in our Northern neighbor, the Canadiens’ puck drop with the Eastern Conference’s fourth-place Carolina Hurricanes occurs at 7 pm ET in Montreal’s Bell Centre.
This is the last game of the regular season for the Canadiens.
The Montreal Canadiens celebrates beating the Florida Panthers at Montreal’s Bell Centre on April 1, 2025 (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Following a savvy nudge from poll sagging NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and BQ Leader Yves-François to shift the political playoff, Radio-Canada and the Leaders’ Debates Commission announced they were moving the debate in a recognition of “Canadians’ passion for hockey.” In what has been a very non-traditional election already in the bilingual country, the debate organizers added: “Citizens will be able to catch this crucial moment in the election campaign while also following the decisive periods of the hockey game that could put the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs.”
There will be a one-hour overlap between the now earlier debate and the hockey game.
French debate moderator Patrice Roy took to social media Tuesday afternoon to make the change in the Habs’ favor public.
The two-hour April 16 debate in French will be succeeded on Thursday with another live leaders’ debate, this time in English.
After over a year of double-digit poll leads for past Trump fan Poilievre and the Conservatives, the seemingly DOA incumbent Liberals found new life under the MAGA POTUS’ attacks. A quick exit by Justin Trudeau after nearly a decade in office and former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Carney taking over as Prime Minister now finds the Liberals leading in the polls by a steady margin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Leader debates have proven to be legit game changers in Canadian politics in the past. However, barring any surprises, Carney and the Liberals look right now to be on the cusp of a clear majority in the Canadian Parliament when the votes are cast on April 28.
The change put forth today is not the first time this century that a leaders’ debate in a Canadian election has shifted for hockey. In the 2011election that saw the Conservatives retain power, the French language debate that April was moved for a NHL Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals game between the Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. The Bruins won the series and went on the win the Stanley Cup that year.
