We all know there is an election coming up in October, and the controversy has already begun. The two national televised debates have been set, but one federal party leader hasn’t been invited… Maxime Bernier. Bernier was a member of the Conservative party but left in 2018 to start his own party after a failed leadership bid. This new party, the People’s Party, didn’t exist last election cycle. And it’s for this reason why he hasn’t been invited to the debates.
In order to qualify for the debates, candidates must meet 3 criteria:
1.) A Member of Parliament elected as a member of that party in the House of Commons at the time the election is called
2.) Candidates in at least 90 percent of electoral districts
3.) Obtaining either four percent of the vote in a previous election or have a legitimate chance to win seats in the upcoming election.
It’s that first criteria that Bernier doesn’t meet.
The green party under the leadership of Elizabeth May, should be very familiar with this scenario. The greens are considered more mainstream now, but for years were kept out of national debates. In 2011 the greens fought to be in the national televised debate, but were unsuccessful because the Greens didn’t have a seat in the house of commons. Interestingly enough, she WAS in the debate in 2008 because the Greens did have a seat briefly. Earlier in the year, Liberal MP Blair Wilson left the party to sit as an independent and Wilson was eventually picked up by the Green Party shortly before the election. It was Wilson’s presence in the house that forced the organizers to include the Green leader in the debate.
The Greens claim to favour fair elections. Since at least February 2018, the following petition has appeared on the Green Party of Canada’s website:
On several occasions in recent years, the Green Party of Canada has been strategically shut out from the national leaders’ debates during Canada’s federal election campaigns. This has prevented millions of voters from seeing our leader, Elizabeth May, articulate Green policies and viewpoints.
Sign our petition calling on the government to guarantee fair inclusion and participation guidelines for the debates, ensuring that all parties with representation in Parliament can participate.
I guess the Greens didn’t anticipate a conservative party entering the fold when they posted that.
Fascinating how silent Elizabeth May has been on this issue of being excluded in debates. You would think that the one person who may be able to identify with being left out, the one person who might actually have something of substance to say on the subject… doesn’t.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this with the Green Party. In a 2012 by-election in the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo, Green candidate Stacey Danckert “didn’t know what to say” when asked her thoughts on why a majority of the 10 candidates were not invited to this particular debate. It seems for the Greens, as with politics in general, you can yell and scream all you want from the outside. But once you are on the inside, and the system is working for you… the little guy no longer seems relevant.
I say let Max speak. It’s rather hypocritical that the reason for why Elizabeth May was allowed in the debate in 2008, is now the same reason for why Maxime Bernier is being left out of the debate in 2019. I’m not sure if I will vote for “Mad Max”, his stance in immigration in particular does’t sit well with me. If I had may way, any party running enough candidates to form government should be heard on a national stage.