I've debated at a few of the big university tournaments in Canada and the format was always British Parliamentary or Canadian Parliamentary. In either case, yo

I've debated at a few of the big university tournaments in Canada and the format was always British Parliamentary or Canadian Parliamentary. In either case, your team debates one side of a given resolution. In BP it gets really fun, as you have to not only present a consistent case, but also back up the other team that's on your side. (For non-debaters, BP has four teams, two government, two opposition.) What I found unusual in the article is that the teams knew the resolution in advance. In BP, you're usually given the resolution, and then 20 minutes or so to work up your arguments. In CP, one of the teams will introduce the resolution, so they can prepare, but the other team is working on the fly. Obviously the judges take that into account. [Edit, I also debated primarily in Ontario/Quebec, so I'm not sure if this all holds true back west.]