The phrase "a substantive debate on" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing a serious and meaningful discussion about a particular topic or issue.
Example: "The conference will feature a substantive debate on climate change policies and their impact on global economies."
Alternatives: "a meaningful discussion about" or "a significant discourse on".
(Did anybody notice that the Democratic candidates engaged in a substantive debate on religion on April 13th?) "Elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronising," says Hillary Clinton.
"I'm being hopeful here, but maybe the climate has changed enough that you can have a substantive debate on the issue".
The political effect at home is to create a simplistic divide between those for or against austerity, rather than leading a substantive debate on real structural reforms.
The court judgment, made in October 2005, had been made in part because parliament had not held a substantive debate on the ban, introduced in 1870.
This rhetoric distracts from a substantive debate on policies that can create fair pathways to citizenship for aspiring Americans, and flippantly devalues millions of first-generation Americans.
The people of New York, we are told, were fooled, bullied and "bamboozled" by Mr. Giuliani, who beat Ms. Messinger (in her own account) because he refused to conduct a substantive debate on the issues.
"We came to a compromise that everyone agreed to and provided a substantive debate for the people of New York".
(Strictly defined, then, the race has "lost its mind," because at a time where the economy is in such crisis -- a dire time, that demands authentic, vibrant critiques and a big, substantive debate on the merits of everyone's prescriptives -- we are instead having a phony media meta-debate over a single sentence of oratory we are willfully pretending to not understand.
Rather than seeking to discourage our program from representing institutional investors submitting shareholder proposals, Wachtell should focus on engaging in a substantive debate about the merits of staggered boards.
