The “debate about the debates” in the last election cycle raised some contentious issues, many of which are still unresolved. What format should the debates take?  Which party leaders should participate? And, perhaps most crucially, Who owns the debates? In this Policy Options special feature several authors look at this issue. And a new report from the IRPP and Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communica­tion and Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management calls for a new approach to organizing leaders’ debates in federal election campaigns.