Former parliamentarians from Canada’s three major parties have been tapped to advise the new commission responsible for organizing federal election leaders’ debates this fall.

On Friday, the federal Leaders’ Debates Commission revealed the seven members of its advisory board, which will be tasked with offering strategic direction on organizing two debates during the 2019 campaign — one in English and the other in French.

One-time deputy NDP leader Megan Leslie, former Liberal finance minister John Manley and ex-Conservative MP Deborah Grey, the first female leader of the Official Opposition, were named to the board, alongside figures from the judiciary, academia, broadcasting and non-profit sector.

Grey was a longtime MP for the Reform Party and its successor the Canadian Alliance throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. The Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservatives in late 2003 to form the Conservative Party and Grey sat as an MP for the new party until the 2004 election.

Commission executive director Michel Cormier told iPolitics that board members were chosen to reflect diverse political, geographic and professional backgrounds that would prove helpful in organizing engaging debates for a broad national audience.

“We want to have … input from different communities and different regions of the country, and also from the people that actually do some democratic development and public engagement,” he said in a phone interview.

“We tried to cover most of it in composing the board.”

As part of its work so far, the commission says it has consulted with close to 40 “subject matter experts” on topics like debate formats, accessibility and journalistic standards. It also said it has met with the major parties and media organizations.

UOttawa professor and Royal Society of Canada president Chad Gaffield, WE Charity cofounder Craig Kielburger, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network CEO Jean La Rose and Administrative Tribunal of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development president Louise Otis also sit on the advisory board.

The seven members are scheduled to meet Monday with Cormier and the debates commissioner, former governor general David Johnston, to discuss plans for the debates in October.

A former Radio-Canada journalist, Cormier stressed the importance of attracting wide public awareness and interest in the debates, especially among people that are not actively involved in politics.

The commission, he said, wants the debates to become seen as a “central pillar of Canadian democracy” and not just another “two hours of television in the middle of a campaign.”

In an environment rife with “disinformation,” Cormier added that the debates offer a rare opportunity for voters to have “unsheltered access” to the country’s political leaders and where millions of Canadians will have access to the “same information” that could inform their votes in real time.

Next up for the commission is determining who will produce the debates themselves.

According to Cormier, the decision will be the result of a two-step process, starting with a request for interest period to see who wants to bid on the contract. From there, the commission will issue a request for proposal — expected in May — listing technical requirements and detailing what they are looking for in a successful applicant, he said.