by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
June 4, 2004
after the federal election was called a consortium of broadcasters set dates for televised debates. an English language debate will be held on June 14 with a debate in French to be aired the following day. The debate will consist of the leaders of the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and the Bloq.
as always happens when televised election debates are scheduled, smaller parties complain that they were not invited to take part. This year the Green Party of Canada is considering legal action to force the networks to allow their leader, Jim Harris, to participate. While it is easy to understand why allowing the leader of every fringe party in the country would do nothing more than obfuscate the issues, the Greens have a good argument for inclusion.
The only argument against allowing the leader of the Green Party to participate in the debates is that the Greens have never held a seat in the House of Commons. The fact that they do not have party status is not a good reason to exclude them. as the Green Party points out, the Progressive Conservatives, Reform Party and the Bloq Quebecois have all been allowed to take part in previous televised debates when they did not have official party status.
There is every reason to believe that Canada, with its abundance of left wing socialistic voters, will follow the many European countries that have Green Party members of Parliament. and unlike the various other fringe parties, the Green Party has enough support in Canada to be included in the results of polls taken by the country’s major pollsters. Nationally, support for the Greens is registering around 5 to 6 per cent. The Conservatives and Liberals are statistically tied in Ontario and close in the rest of Canada going into the second week of the campaign which gives the percentage held by the Green Party more significance.
although the Green Party may not gain a seat their candidates are likely to play a role in determining the outcome in some ridings. In the riding of Toronto-Danforth, party leader Jim Harris is running against Liberal incumbent Dennis Mills and NDP leader Jack Layton. Harris may be able to draw enough votes away from Layton to see Mills reelected and the NDP remain with a leader without a seat in the House of Commons.
It’s a chicken and egg situation. The Greens will be unable to substantially increase their vote if they can’t get their message out. and they can’t get their message out if they are denied opportunities to present their policies. and those policies are no more radical than those of the NDP and the Greens might be able to pick up NDP votes if they had more public exposure.
The Green Party should be allowed to participate in the televised debates.