No to Green Party in debate – Broadcast Consortium censors political choices
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“Exactly when was a consortium composed of five broadcast executives anointed with the right to determine which Canadian political parties should participate in the leaders' debate,” asked Green Party of Canada leader Jim Harris today.
“Do Canadians really believe that five executives meeting on a conference call should arbitrarily decide the political choices for over 22 million voters?,” said Harris. “The importance of the leaders' debate cannot be overstated,” he added. “There is widespread agreement that televised leaders’ debates are defining moments in Canadian elections.”
The Green Party today publicly released a copy of its reply in response to the consortium's decision.
“The latest Ipsos-Reid poll shows support for the federal Green Party at 5 per cent federally and 14 per cent in B.C. Based on these polls, over 640,000 Canadians are ready to vote for the Green Party. “To these and other Canadians, the consortium is saying, your issues and concerns will not be debated.
“We're not asking the broadcasters to add another seat at the table, we just believe the existing empty chair should represent an opportunity for a new political voice to be heard in Canada,” added Harris, noting that five political parties have participated in the debate since 1993.
Equally, since 1993, the NDP, Bloc Québecois, the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party have all been invited to participate in the debate without holding official party status. In fact, in 1993 the Reform Party held only one seat and the Bloc was not officially recognized in the House of Commons, its members and only elected MP sat as independents. The Bloc, with only 75 candidates, participates in both the English and French debates, despite the fact that voters in 233 predominantly English-speaking ridings cannot even vote for their candidates.
“We believe the consortium's decision to exclude the Green Party inadvertently discourages voter participation, and it’s clear that voters want to see more of us,” said Harris. In the last election, over 8.2 million voters rejected the political choices available to them and instead chose “none-of-the-above”. Polls indicate that the party draws the most support from voters between the ages of 18 and 35 – the demographic least likely to vote based on the 2000 returns, who are also the same Canadians who feel particularly disenchanted with the old-line parties.
The Green Party sees the consortium's decision as a Catch-22: on the one hand, some broadcasters do not prompt for the Green Party in their polls and yet claim the party doesn't meet the necessary popular support level in their ever-shifting criteria for inclusion in the debate.
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For more information or a copy of the Green Party response:
Van Ferrier
Media Relations Officer
514.844.4364/van.ferrier@elf.mcgill.ca
@ May 31, 2004