Ms. May
I have a feeling this is backfiring badly on all concerned. Have a look at the CBC story on this sordid business: there are more than 750 comments attached. (This Globe story: 500-plus.) A firestorm, in other words. I wonder who will be the next member of the Gang of Three to buckle.MORE: What’s particularly galling is that every one of the players who made this entirely self-interested decision are funded in whole or in part on the public dime: the political parties, the CBC and Radio-Canada, but also Global, CTV and TVA, who make off with massive implicit and explicit subsidies. They’re conspiring against the public interest, on the public’s dime!
MORER: So as things stand, if you did hold a Greens-included debate, you’d pull Elizabeth May, Stephane Dion, and Gilles Duceppe. If Jack Layton could be prevailed upon to come, then the only remaining holdout would be Stephen Harper. (I know he’s nervy, but could he really duck the debate?) andrew coyne via the dawg
As I wrote over at the Dawgs, this blackmail by the old line parties pretty much forces me to vote Green in my riding provided the Green candidate is not a complete loon or anti-semite. For those of us in ridings where the Federal Election is unlikely to be decided – and frankly the CPC has zero chance in Victoria – piling up Green votes simply as a protest and to ensure that the Greens are included in the next electoral debate may make a lot of sense.
Voting for democracy and against blackmail is a position I can get behind.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Interesting. If I could vote Green in my neighbouring riding, I’d be voting for a fine craft brewer. That would be gold. Oops – he resigned from the race. Now I can’t do what I couldn’t.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Well there’s two wasted votes that will help Harper. ;-)
I am a little pissed at the corporate media in not allowing May in the English Canada debate. She could easily take Duceppe’s place if it’s time constraints they worry about. Greens have a full candidate roster across Canada as opposed to the narrow scope of the BQ who really irrelevant outside Quebec.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Yeah, but the Bloc actually has MPs. Lots of them. And with staying power over the course of more than one election. Lizzie may needs to exploit the power of streaming video from the Green’s website. She could answer all the questions there without the annoying out-of-contro-classroom atmosphere of most nationally televised debates. Those things are a farce anyway. Everybody screaming at each other, interrupting each other, all talking at the same time. They are an embarrassment to watch.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:52 am
Elizabeth May is quite remarkably stupid. As a media professional, I would include May just for the comedic value she would bring to an otherwise bound-to-be-boring debate. That having been said, there is no precedent for the inclusion of a leader of a party with NO elected memebers in the House. If the Green Party leader is included in the debate, so should all the other fringe party leaders.
Too bad Canadians today don’t know Canadian history. Too bad Canadians today don’t know Canadian government structures, their origins and evolution over time, and how they work. Too bad Canadians today know so very little about themselves.
Oops! My bad! I’m not supposed to reflect upon how psychologically screwed-up Canadians are today. It interferes with the self-flagellation rites at the Canadian Self-Hate Festival.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:55 am
OK Jay…before you vote GREEN remind yourself of many of their stalward candidates.
There was “Lucy” who thankfully ran only in Ontario and lost all 4 times.
Then there was a spin off ARA candidate that ran as a Marxist-Lenist in/ outside TO;
Then there was the UK GREEN version ICKE whose therories (now widely accepted LOL) of giant space lizards;
“Lucy” sued ICKE for something claiming it was anti-semetic and/or not nice to him. Book burning & the BC library case?;
Some BC GREEN sued M. Gueist(sp?) for ????...hurt feelings?
Some GREEN member did just get suspended for anti-semetic thought?
What do these people do when they are not working?
Pass the Kool Aid.
I, too, plan to have a GREEN PARTY sign on my lawn but with a Disclaimer “Beware of Giant Space Lizards”
September 10th, 2008 at 8:06 am
LS, I agree there are some wild eccentric and some downright scary people who snag Green nominations – thus my caveat as to loons and anti-semites. I had forgotten about Lucy.
Pesky, I am not sure in the first past the post system, it makes a lot of sense to require an elected member where a party polls a near 5% of the popular vote. The incumbent parties already enjoy more than enough barriers to entry against upstart parties. I completely agree with you as to Ms. May’s comedy potential.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
“That having been said, there is no precedent for the inclusion of a leader of a party with NO elected memebers in the House.”
If I’m not mistaken, when the BQ were invited to their first debate none of them had been elected as BQ members. The original BQ members were either PC or Liberals who left their parties to join/form the BQ.
That would seem to be a precedent for May’s inclusion.