Green party not allowed to participate in broadcast Prime Ministerial debate

Elizabeth May, leader of the green party of canada, has been ruled out of competeing in the televised debate (for our federal gov't, and leader of the country)which will feature representatives from all four other national parties.( Although I don't I think the bloc quebecois is a national party.) While there is no law or set-in-stone protocol that says who can participate in these debates, the Torries are saying she's playing for the liberals, because of her left of centre platform, and because she and Liberal leader Stephane Dion have agreed not to run against each other in certain ridings, so it would be like having two liberals in one debate. The fact that the green party does not have an elected memeber of parliment is another reason why they won't let her on.

She says, however, that because they are a national party, they represent the country and they have just as much right to be in the debates as the
other party.

The conservatives are scared because they will get served by her environmental policies on live tv.

But she is repin' a pretty heavy liberal-esque platform.
Your thoughts? Should she be allowed?

we are on the brink of an election, btw everyone south of the border, just like you gyus are. Pretty interesting times.

I don't think you've kept up to date on the news. She is in fact going to be in the debate.

oo la la...democracy lives! i havent chekced on it since yesterday

dion is in fredericton(where i live)today, funny enough

I think it's a bit harsh to blame this situation on Harper entirely. Harper, Dion, and Layton would all not have participated in the debate if May was invited. Layton was the first to flip-flop, then the other two did it, so now she's welcome.

Frankly, I don't think she should be welcome. She's never had an MP election, she doesn't run 308 candidates, and she supports Dion for PM, which effectively makes her a lobbyist, not a politician (because a politician would support HERSELF for PM).

Right on, zed, i think they need to have some rules about this thing from now on. I

I think it's great that there are 50 liberal parties, and one conservative party.

I love progressivism, I really do, but they have got to get their shit together. The right wing is doing relatively well all over the world because they aren't open to every dumbass idea that comes along, but the leftists have people like Layton talking about legislating food ads that target children? What the fuck? No wonder someone like Harper gets to be PM and try to push the shit he pushes. Having May up on stage just gives Harper a majority government.

may shouldn't be on the podium. she thinks they deserve it because they have an mp in parlament, but that's just because he walked up to her after he was voted in and decided to go over with them. if he was running for the green party he would have never been voted in in the first place, and if in the next election he's running green still he probably won't get voted back in. any party that doesn't have a chance of forming a majority shouldn't be in the election(ie. bloc, green, etc...)

BradGodfrey wrote:

may shouldn't be on the podium. she thinks they deserve it because they have an mp in parlament, but that's just because he walked up to her after he was voted in and decided to go over with them. if he was running for the green party he would have never been voted in in the first place, and if in the next election he's running green still he probably won't get voted back in. any party that doesn't have a chance of forming a majority shouldn't be in the election(ie. bloc, green, etc...)

just because a party doesn't have a chance at winning a majority, doesn't mean they shouldn't be running. If they have an elected mp then they SHOULD be allowed to run, because they represent the interests of at least a few canadians who voted for them.

What I don't like is when people don't vote for the party that really represents their beliefs, just because they aren't likely to win. I mean, it's that kind of mentality that makes democratic change so hard.

well i've rarely voted for who i want in, you almost have to just vote against who you want to lose because otherwise you may get stuck with someone you dislike. it's rare to get someone you actually like in power.

Ah, I just think it's a waste to vote for someone just because you think they'll win, as opposed to someone who actually represents what you believe in. I mean, that's kind of the point of Democracy. For people to be represented. If you vote for someone just because they'll win, then you're not represented...

That sort of mentality demonstrates the level of awareness and care in general of the population. Almost half of one of my classes of 30 people didn't know who the prime minister of Canada was, let alone the fact there's going to be an election in less than a month to decide who will lead the country. But you know what, that is democracy. It puts important decisions in the hands of sometimes uninformed or even semi-conscious people.

godisdead wrote:

That sort of mentality demonstrates the level of awareness and care in general of the population. Almost half of one of my classes of 30 people didn't know who the prime minister of Canada was, let alone the fact there's going to be an election in less than a month to decide who will lead the country. But you know what, that is democracy. It puts important decisions in the hands of sometimes uninformed or even semi-conscious people.

Everyone knows George W. Bush is the president of parliament.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that a lot of Canadians know more about US politics than their own.

AnnaIsAFuckingStoolPigeon wrote:

Yeah, it's unfortunate that a lot of Canadians know more about US politics than their own.

I think it's more unfortunate that Canadians know more about America than Americans know about America.

Well, more funny, really, but still sad.

If any Canadians are interested, the government publishes a book and gives it out FOR FREE in both English and French called "How Canadians Govern Themselves", which is an excellent introduction to the Canadian parliamentary system. It's probably online, too. Read it. I'm not kidding.