The 2015 federal election will require political parties to work harder than ever to capture the attention of the electorate. This story is part of Adam Radwanski's new assignment looking at how the party machines across the country are preparing.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Stephen Harper's Conservatives have dramatically and controversially changed one of the key components of Canadian election campaigns.

The way the governing party has blown up the traditional system of leaders' debates, in advance of this year's federal race, is the hottest topic in political circles. For those outside the bubble, this is an attempt to sort through the spin coming from all sides and figure out what the Tories are up to and where it leaves us.

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What just happened?

Mr. Harper rejected the way leaders have crossed paths in past elections, in which a pair of debates (one each in English and French) were broadcast live on several major networks. Instead, the Prime Minister intends to participate in as many as five other debates, to be hosted by individual media outlets – among them The Globe and Mail and Maclean's – or organizations such as the Munk Debates.

This has brought a mixed reaction from his rivals. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau still plans to participate in the traditional debates, which are apparently going ahead without Mr. Harper, but hasn't committed to others. The NDP's Thomas Mulcair has signalled he'll participate in any and all of them.

Aren't more debates a good thing?

It's hard to argue they're not. Past debates have rushed through topics so quickly that leaders haven't had to get much beyond talking points. With some of the new, more unconventional ones scheduled to focus on a single policy area – including one on the economy and another on foreign affairs – the participants will have to dig deeper.

What's the point of contention?

The Liberals' complaint is essentially that the Conservatives have leveraged the Prime Minister being the most important participant in any debate to tilt the playing field.

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Rather than working with other parties to lay out a new debate framework, the Liberals allege, the Tories went directly to hosts with the hope of securing their preferred conditions.

Why aren't the New Democrats as bothered?

The NDP would say it's because Mr. Mulcair is confident enough that he's willing to take on the other leaders any time, in any format. While that may be true, it probably also has to do with the need to raise the NDP Leader's profile, which is still relatively low. Mr. Trudeau's challenge is more to prove himself, and not get caught in Conservative traps.

Is it really possible Mr. Harper and Mr. Trudeau will never appear at the same debate?

Unless his party is in rough shape by the time they roll around, Mr. Harper probably won't back down from skipping the traditional debates. But it's hard to imagine Mr. Trudeau giving most of the other debates a miss. Considering that their path to victory requires persuading voters who don't like Mr. Harper to rally behind Mr. Trudeau, the Liberals can ill afford one-on-ones between the PM and Mr. Mulcair.

What are the Tories really trying to achieve?

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If you're not inclined to believe they're just trying to offer more debates in interesting formats, there are several other explanations out there, even beyond just having more control over the new debates' format.

One is that they're trying to put an end to a pair of debates, in which other leaders gang up on the incumbent, being the campaign's focal point. By this theory, they're hoping that the more there are, the less of an event each will be – especially if they get their wish for most debates to happen before the writ period begins.

A second is that they think the more there are, particularly if they're issue-specific, the higher chance Mr. Trudeau will say something stupid.

They also probably prefer to avoid Mr. Harper sharing a stage with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, whom they consider an unpredictable ally of Mr. Trudeau, and whom they're better able to keep out of non-traditional debates.

Won't Mr. Harper look bad skipping the traditional debates?

The Conservatives seem to believe that if he's already attended a handful of other debates, he'll be able to brush off complaints about skipping a couple. And since their path to victory requires a divided centre-left, they may enjoy the idea of opposition leaders ripping into each other in his absence.

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Are there other risks for the Tories?

Yes. For starters, there's the chance that Mr. Trudeau – whose inexperience is among his liabilities – will get better with more debates. And a stumble in the first one could matter less if he has chances to make up for it.

The Conservatives are also going against the conventional wisdom that, because debates afford opposition leaders equal stature to prime ministers, incumbents should do as few of them as possible. If cumulative viewership numbers prove high, both that and just having Mr. Harper get beaten up a lot could bite them.