OTTAWA – Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has once again been excluded from the country’s televised national leadership debates.
The broadcast consortium of CBC, Radio-Canada, CTV, Global and TVA, which is in charge of organizing the two televised debates, confirmed Tuesday that it has invited only the Conservative, Liberal, Bloc Quebecois and New Democrat leaders to participate, citing the Green Party’s lack of representation in the House of Commons.
The television broadcasters initially excluded May from the debates during the 2008 federal election as well, saying three of the leaders had threatened to boycott if she participated. But that decision was reversed with the help of a very public campaign in the media.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, May called on Canadians to “demand democracy”, unveiled a new on-line petition, and confirmed that the party has retained legal counsel and will make an application to the court in the next few days.
“What kind of democracy excludes a party with the support of one tenth of its citizens?”, May said in the statement. “What kind of democracy allows a handful of TV executives to decide that a party only running candidates in one province had more right to be in a national leaders’ debate than a party with candidates in every riding? This decision will not stand.”
