The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Televised leadersÕ debates are crucial to Canadian elections. They give voters their best chance to hear the leaders unfiltered and see their arguments tested. So why are we still in the dark about who will be on stage? To be sure, the usual suspects will be invited Ð the leaders of the Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Qubcois. But will the Greens be blacked out again? Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is threatening court action if she is barred from the television studio. But it shouldnÕt come to that. The old arguments for excluding her are now so convoluted and outdated that voters Ð notably the 664,000 Canadians who cast Green ballots in 2006 Ð deserve a straight answer, and quickly. Who, exactly, is being asked to decide? It turns out that election debates, a pillar of our democratic process, are in the hands of a handful of TV network executives who run a consortium Ð yes, thatÕs what they call it Ð set up by themselves to decide who debates what. Comprising the three English and two French networks Ð CBC, CTV, Global, Radio-Canada and TVA Ð the consortium meets behind closed doors and answers only to the networks, three of which are private sector companies. (Full disclosure: Torstar Corp., the parent company of The Toronto Star, has a minority stake in CTVglobemedia, CTVÕs parent.) The consortium met September 2 to consider inclusion of the Greens, among other matters, but reached no conclusion. ÒWeÕre obviously debating these issues intently,Ó said Bob Hurst, president of CTV News and chair of the consortium. In previous campaigns, the consortium rejected the Greens on the grounds that they lacked any MPs in the House of Commons. They have now cleared that hurdle as Independent MP Blair Wilson (a former Liberal) joined them in late August. Besides, the Greens also plan to field candidates nationwide (unlike the Bloc), and in party preference polls over the past year they have ranged as high as 14 per cent of the popular vote Ð consistently rivalling the NDP and the Bloc. More to the point, the partyÕs environmental planks are an integral part of the public debate in Canada, as in much of Western Europe. So why should the BlocÕs Gilles Duceppe and the NDPÕs Jack Layton get a seat at the debate while Elizabeth May is excluded? ThatÕs a question the consortium will have to answer. Or the courts. Voters have already given theirs. Let May in.
