Breaking from the traditional format of having the leaders stand behind podiums, Canada's leaders faced each other within arm’s reach around an egg-shaped table and spoke to each other rather than to a moderator or televised audience.
The format led to fiery exchanges and a slightly more confrontational debate, but that is a good thing, said Steve Paikin, who moderated the discussion.
"The point of the whole thing is the clash of ideas. If there wasn't any of that, it probably wouldn't be as useful."
In the round-table format the leaders often addressed each other at point-blank range making the debate more lively than the previous election's podium-style debate, noted Paikin.
"It definitely encouraged more conversation."
Although Paikin hadn't yet watched the vice-presidential debate, he summarized the style that is now well known to viewers: the candidates stand behind podiums and respond to the moderator's questions in 45-second remarks.It is a format Canada used in previous debates, one which Paikin moderated in 2006. "That was less conducive to a free flow and exchange of ideas," he said.
But besides getting an idea of the candidate's policy positions, the debates also help voters get a "gut feel" about the candidates as human beings, and the round-table style makes that much easier, Paikin added.
A recording of the Canadian debate can be seen at CBC.ca and some behind the scenes footage can be found on Paikin's blog at TVO.org.
