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Green exclusion

phishtaper

By phishtaper
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phishtaper Rookie

phishtaper

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It's terribly disappointing that the media consortium running the debates didn't have the balls to stand up to Harper on this and let Green leader Elizabeth May participate in the leader's debate. She deserves to be there.

Harper's argument that the Greens and the Liberals are the same party is silly. Perhaps he has forgotten how hard he fought to get Reform leader Preston Manning into the debate with Conservative leader Jean Charest in 1997. And we all know how similar those two parties turned out to be when the literally merged five years later.

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AD Newbie

AD

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Terribly disappointing, I hope they fight it and win. Although I was also very disappointed in May's reaction, her comments about the old boys club and men excluding the only woman leader from the debate. I think she should have concentrated on her policies and her party rather than solely on her sex.

Letter to Green Party Friends and Supporters,

Today's decision by the broadcasting consortium is an inexcusable mistake and a slap in the face to all those who care about democracy and freedom of speech in this country. They have bowed to crass partisan politics from three other federal parties. Elizabeth May deserves to be in the included in the nationally-televised leaders' debates. She has jumped through every hoop that has barred her way and she still is being kept from presenting the Green platform to a national audience by the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc.

The Green party is a truly national party that has run candidates across the country for the past two elections. We have a sitting MP. We had the support of nearly 700,000 Canadians in the last elections and are polling at over one million votes in this election. There is no logical reason why Elizabeth May and the Green Party should be kept out of this important national forum.

No other party has been as successful as the Green Party and still be blocked from public national debates. In 1993 the Reform and Bloc Parties were included in the debates with only one MP and no official party status. Neither ran candidates across the country. There is no precedent for this private decision to exclude the Green party from the leader's public debate. In fact, all the precedents support our inclusion in this public forum. Partisan politics has kept her out, this is an insult to the Green party and called the fairness of the election into question

It is so important for Elizabeth May to be present at the debates. The majority of Canadians make their voting decisions based on them. The Green party needs your help to remedy this situation. We need you to write, call and contact the Broadcasting Consortium and tell them they are wrong. Tell them that Canadians deserve to hear the voices of all national leaders.

Most importantly, you should phone, fax or email the party leaders who kept Elizabeth May out of the debate. Make them accountable for this outrageous, antidemocratic act.

Stephen Harper:

Conservative Party of Canada

Election Headquarters

#1204 - 130 Albert Street

Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5G4

Toll free: (866) 808-8407

Phone: (613) 755-2000

Fax at: (613) 755-2001

Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Constituency Office

1600 - 90th Avenue SW

Suite A-203

Calgary, Alberta, T2V 5A8

Telephone: (403) 253-7990

Fax: (403) 253-8203

Hill Office

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario; K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 992-4211

Fax: (613) 941-6900

Jack Layton:

Canada's NDP

300 - 279 Laurier West

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9

Phone: 613-236-3613

Toll Free: 1-866-525-2555

Fax: 613-230-9950

TTY: 1-866-776-7742

Email: Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

Constituency Office

221 Broadview Avenue

Suite 100 (Main Office)

Toronto, Ontario; M4M 2G3

Telephone: (416) 405-8914

Fax: (416) 405-8918

Hill Office

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 995-7224

Fax: (613) 995-4565

Gilles Duceppe:

Bloc Québécois

3730, boul. Crémazie Est

Montréal (Québec) H2A 1B4

Téléphone : 514 526-3000

Télécopieur : 514 526-2868

Email : Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Constituency Office

1200 Papineau, # 350

Montreal, Québec; H2K 4R5

Telephone: (514) 522-1339

Fax: (514) 522-9899

Hill Office

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 992-6777

Fax: (613) 954-2121

You can visit http://demanddemocraticdebates.ca to sign a petition to pressure the Broadcast consortium to make sure that Green Party leader Elizabeth May is included in the leaders' debates. You can also let the broadcast consortium know of your disagreement by contacting them at:

John Cruikshank, Publisher, CBC news

(416) 205-6300

Robert Hurst, President of CTV News

416-332-5000

Troy Reeb, Senior Vice President of News Canwest Global

(416) 967-1174

Pierre Dion, President, Groupe TVA Inc.

514-526-9251

Ronald Cohen, National Chair, Canadian Broadcast Standards Council

P.O. Box 3265, Station D Ottawa, ON K1P 6H8

613-233-4607

Glenn O'Farrell, President and CEO, Canadian Association of Broadcasters

P.O. Box 627, Stn. B Ottawa, ON K1P 5S2

613-233-4035 ext: 326

Talk to everyone you know about this important subject and make sure they get involved in supporting the Green Party's fight. A complaint has been filed to the CRTC and Legal proceedings to overturn the decision have already started. These initiatives can only be strengthened by your support. The Green Party has retained the best lawyer in Canada in this field to represent the party in court. The Green party is legally and politically required to be in these debates.

We urge you to act immediately to right this wrong.

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ollie Newbie

ollie

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Terribly disappointing, I hope they fight it and win. Although I was also very disappointed in May's reaction, her comments about the old boys club and men excluding the only woman leader from the debate. I think she should have concentrated on her policies and her party rather than solely on her sex.

Yeah, it's real dumb and a bit of a slap in the face to the likes of Alexa McDonough and Audry McLaughlin.

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phishtaper Rookie

phishtaper

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Yeah, it's real dumb and a bit of a slap in the face to the likes of Alexa McDonough and Audry McLaughlin.

who? ;)

yes, i didnt see this as a sexist thing at all, i simply saw it as a group of people who didnt want to let someone else play. and in typical harper fashion, he said "if she's allowed to play, im taking my hockey net and going home" to which the appropriate response should have been: "fine".

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StaggerLee Newbie

StaggerLee

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The larger issue here is that the leaders debate has become an important part of our election process, but it's not regulated by legislation, so a media consortium gets to make the call about who participates. I don't often find myself advocating for government control of the press, but surely there should be some kind of standard criteria for inclusion in the debate. Harper said he would not participate if May were included in the debates, that it would be undemocratic if she were there; what he should have done is introduced legislation that provides fair criteria for inclusion in the debates and said that he would not participate unless those rules were followed. That would be democratic.

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bradm Newbie

bradm

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Hmmm...

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/CanadaVotes/News/2008/09/09/6713186-cp.html

[Layton] defended excluding May by saying she had already endorsed Liberal Leader Stephane Dion for prime minister.

Layton was asked how he can cast himself as the champion of the anti-establishment, a leader who would bring change to Ottawa, while at the same time defending the status quo when it comes to the debate.

"I'll tell you what the status quo is," the NDP chief fired back - successive Tory and Liberal governments that represent the old-school establishment.

"We have someone else who wants to be in the debate who actually supports the leader of one of those parties," he said of May.

Aloha,

Brad

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d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

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Isn't there a West Wing episode like this? (thinking hard, mining a spotty memory) Like one of the big two supports the third party being in the debates, but the other of the big two says they won't participate if that happens. So they are like 'fine, whatever, we'll have our own debate across the street and whoever wants to cover it is welcome.' leaving the other major party to either stand there at a podium alone with no-one to argue with or concede to let the third party in.

Fiction, of course, but food for thought.

Speaking of undemocratic .. May and Dion did agree to not run candidates in each others ridings, which is arguably terribly undemocratic in that it denies constituents in those ridings the choice of whom to vote for. Want to vote Green in Saint-Laurent–Cartierville? Tough, you can't. Want to vote Liberal in Central Nova? Tough, you can't.

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StaggerLee Newbie

StaggerLee

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Speaking of undemocratic .. May and Dion did agree to not run candidates in each others ridings, which is arguably terribly undemocratic in that it denies constituents in those ridings the choice of whom to vote for.

Word. I was living in Central Nova when that foolishness was announced. Liberals in the riding are pissed, and very few will vote Green, they're far more likely to turn NDP or CPC. And when the Libs run their next candidate in the riding they'll have a hard time winning many of those folks back. May and Dion should mutually break that agreement; they still have time to round up a couple more candidates and put their names in.

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AD Newbie

AD

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To be fair, Layton said the exact same thing as Harper. And Dion is going along with it. And Duceppe seems to be just fine excluding May as well. It's not just Harper.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd - The TV consortium people could have called the leaders' bluff and said 'Tough - You're all in the debate.'

Plenty of blame and shit to go around.

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d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

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You can watch Duceppe at the debates though.

There are anglophones in Quebec.

There is no riding that I am aware of in Quebec where you can't vote for the candidate of your choice for parties with a full slate.

(To be clear though, I think the Greens should be in the debate this time 'round)

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AD Newbie

AD

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They aren't a national party though. In a national debate. It's got nothing to do with language.

Plus, when the Bloc was in their first debate they were in the exact same circumstance as the Greens now with an MP elected under a different banner. Similar to Reform and other parties (no official party status when they were in their first debates).

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d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

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I hope the Green's sue and win. This is brutal, more American style politics from the Conservatives. Harper is really showing his weak side, running from open debate.

.. and the Bloc .. and the NDP .. and all their bloody talk of conscience and principles. Fuck the lot of them.

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d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

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AD - I don't disagree that the Greens should be in the debate and that they more than meet the unofficial criteria, given, for example, the prior circumstances that you mention. I just disagree that the Bloc shouldn't. At least right now.

The Bloc is a significant federal party running in a federal election, even if they aren't running a full federal slate of candidates. More reason why the consortium should nail down on a firm set of criteria, and more reason why it will be excessively difficult (but still necessary) for them to do so.

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AD Newbie

AD

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I wrote this letter this morning to the candidates in Ottawa Centre

Ottawa Centre candidates;

I can understand why your leaders are afraid to debate Elizabeth May; I would be too. However, as you are all running for a democratic office, I hope it is blatantly obvious to you that her voice needs to be heard in the national debates. As a constituent in Ottawa Centre I have not yet made up my mind as to who deserves my vote. I can guarantee though that I will not cast a ballot for a candidate whose leader is afraid to debate ideas and policy in a national forum.

Please speak up, publicly, in Ottawa Centre and to your party leader and call for Elizabeth May to be included in the national debates. What does anyone have to lose by hearing from such a smart and dynamic leader of a national party? Your leaders just might learn something.

AD

Ottawa Centre

PS - Another sure way to avoid getting my vote is adding my name and/or email address to any kind of correspondence list without my permission.

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boiler Rookie

boiler

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I wrote this letter this morning to the candidates in Ottawa Centre
Ottawa Centre candidates;

I can understand why your leaders are afraid to debate Elizabeth May; I would be too. However, as you are all running for a democratic office, I hope it is blatantly obvious to you that her voice needs to be heard in the national debates. As a constituent in Ottawa Centre I have not yet made up my mind as to who deserves my vote. I can guarantee though that I will not cast a ballot for a candidate whose leader is afraid to debate ideas and policy in a national forum.

Please speak up, publicly, in Ottawa Centre and to your party leader and call for Elizabeth May to be included in the national debates. What does anyone have to lose by hearing from such a smart and dynamic leader of a national party? Your leaders just might learn something.

AD

Ottawa Centre

PS - Another sure way to avoid getting my vote is adding my name and/or email address to any kind of correspondence list without my permission.

Nice, I think one to the television networks is in order. Ultimatley it was their decision to not allow May to debate. I'm gonna write CBC and tell them I'm locking their channel off my TV and I'm not watching any hockey night in Canada this year unless they allow May to debate. Ya gotta hit em where it hurts and w/o HNC CBC is nothing.

I noticed a poll the other day saying the Greens are at 9% right now. I don't know that seems like enough support to be allowed to debate. I don't know what the bloc has but I doubt it's as high as 9% of the Canadian population.

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