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Let May have her say

The Green party has candidates throughout the country, yet party leader Elizabeth May isn’t allowed to participate in the televised leaders’ debate.

The Green party has candidates throughout the country, yet party leader Elizabeth May isn’t allowed to participate in the televised leaders’ debate.

That is not democracy. That is downright disturbing.

This editorial is not to advocate or campaign for the Green party or for any particular party, for that matter.

But May should be granted the same opportunity as the Conservatives, the NDP, the Liberals — and even the Bloc Quebecois (which only has candidates in Quebec by the way). It’s not like the Greens are some ultra small party, like the Marijuana party, the Pirate party, or Rhinoceros party, to name a few registered political parties in Canada. In fact, in 2006, the Green Party received 2.3 per cent of the country’s vote, and in 2008 that number tripled to 6.8 per cent —or 941,097 votes. The broadcast consortium’s decision to bar May from being part of the debate does a public disservice to all Canadians, who should have the opportunity to hear what May has to say, even if they have their minds made up to vote for another party, even if they won’t vote at all.

Earlier this week, a federal court judge declined to fast-track the party’s case and, as a result, May will likely be unable to participate in the April 12 debate.

We’ve heard arguments to disallow May from the debate such as: the Greens don’t hold a seat in parliament; because her participation would take away valuable airtime from the other candidates; and that this is how the parliamentary system works — that seats are assigned through the first-past-the-post system, not on the basis of popular vote, so the same principles should apply for televised debates.

All five candidates should be granted the same amount of time to speak, so it would be equal for all. And why not have a part-one and part-two debate if one is so worried about time? And so what if they don’t hold a seat? We are not suggesting the election system should be changed (at least, not in today’s editorial), but if the Green party’s name is on the ballot in ridings across Canada (and because the party got almost one million votes in 2008), voters should be knowledgeable on who they are (or aren’t) voting for when they mark an X on the ballot May 2.

Being part of the election process is one of the most important responsibilities Canadians have, but unless they have access to the tools to help them make informed decisions, there won’t be legitimate  representation in Ottawa, no matter who wins.