VANCOUVER -- The moderator of the upcoming B.C. leaders’ debate says she’s hoping for a vigorous discussion that doesn’t require muting any of the candidates’ microphones.

Shachi Kurl, president of the non-partisan research group Angus Reid Institute, will host a debate between the Green Party’s Sonia Furstenau, the NDP’s John Horgan, and the BC Liberals’ Andrew Wilkinson on Oct. 13.

“The parties are aware that we have a mute button or a kill switch, and I hope we don't need it,” she said.

Her words come on the heels of two disastrous U.S. debates that were rife with insults and interruptions, sometimes leaving the moderators trying to yell over the candidates to get them to stop talking.

“I don’t want to say that I'm confident that we don't need it because, you know, (U.S. debate moderators) Chris Wallace and Susan Page probably thought the same thing, but I'm really hoping that we're all going to have a teachable moment coming out of those last two debates and take a breath and really think about what we want to do,” Kurl said.

What Kurl wants is a clean, vigorous and respectful debate that helps B.C. voters understand the parties’ political platforms amid an unusual campaign period that has been void of rallies and door-knocking.

Kurl’s own preparation for the debate is happening from the same place she’s been directing the Angus Reid Institute over the past seven months of the pandemic – sitting cross-legged on her living room floor, with her laptop on the coffee table.

“I think preparation prevents poor performance and so you watch what others do to learn from what goes well and what doesn't go well,” she said. “It's the same for preparing for any task.”

Much of the success of the debate in B.C., she says, will ride on how Furstenau, Horgan and Wilkinson behave.

“A lot of my success will depend -- not all of it, but a lot of it – will depend on how the leaders themselves choose to act … it is very much a choice of the leaders to determine how they want to approach this.”

The debate questions will focus on current issues in B.C. and several political reporters are helping determine what those exact questions will be.

Kurl, a long time political observer and analyst, says she’s watched the three leaders through their careers, and has faith that they’re capable of following the debate rules they have agreed to.

“I instinctively feel they have it in them, should they choose, to sort of take an approach that says, ‘We're going to debate, respectfully, we're going to debate vigorously but respectfully.’”

The debate is an important public service, she said, because, as polls from her organization show, only about a third of voters say they feel engaged in the election campaigning, and only 40 per cent say that they're locked into voting for a particular party.

This will be the first time Kurl has moderated the televised provincial leaders’ debate. As the moderator, she sees herself as a stand-in for B.C. voters, and says it’s a bit uncomfortable to be in the spotlight ahead of the debate.

“Because of the last two train wrecks of U.S, debates that we've watched, I understand there's an interest … There's also added pressure,” she said.

“Moderators don't want to be the story, they don't want to be the clip, they don't want to be the thing that people focus on,” she said.

The debate will happen in-person and follow strict-social distancing rules, but there will be no live audience.

A consortium of B.C. broadcasters, including CTV News, is organizing the debate. It will air live on radio and online at CTVNewsVancouverIsland.ca and CTVNewsVancouver.ca, and is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 13.