The Greens have broken into Canada’s government. Finally.
They will be in the debates now, or I’ll eat my hat…tip.
Hat tip to 1337hax0r.com
{ 2008 08 30 }
Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy
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Dove | 30-Aug-08 at 12:20 pm | Permalink
They should be in the debates since the networks allowed the Bloc to be in the 1993 debates.
huffb1 | 30-Aug-08 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
He may be the First Green MP, But the Greens still have not elected one. According to wikipedia, this is a swing riding between The Liberals and Conservatives.
Saskboy | 30-Aug-08 at 12:50 pm | Permalink
Huffb1, As Dove says, there’s precedent for letting her debate anyway. The Reforms got to debate too with just 1 MP.
Frankly Canadian | 30-Aug-08 at 1:22 pm | Permalink
Ms. May should have been included in all the debates/panels thus far. I also find it odd that every time a political news story or television show gathers spokes people from the four main parties to make comments or give opinions and even debate various topics, the Green Party is never included. I hope Craig Oliver/Jane Tabber, Peter Mansbridge, Don Newman begin to finally include representation from a party that holds support from a serious percentage of Canadians. I have learned that a number of polls taken resulted in 70%+ of Canadians feel that the Greens should be included in debates. Could you imagine if elected officials didn’t even have to bother attending such debates it’s appalling to imagine a Prime Minister being elected not by their policies/reputations/results but by the advertising companies ability to hire the most believable actors and create the most attractive commercials, all the while collecting huge dollars from corporate sponsors (Big Business) to pay for it! That seems like an assault on democracy if you ask me, I would rather see every candidate have the equivalent ability to get their message to the public of what they stand for. As for the union between Wilson and May, I believe them both when they say the circumstances were right and so was the timing. This will give Mr. Wilson the best chance to win that riding, and for Ms. May this is a historic event that brings the entire world closer to a united democratic system of free speech, free enterprise, and free elections. I have never voted for the Greens, however I vote for what is needed at the time and which candidate will deliver the results I believe we need. DEBATES ARE ESSENTIAL!!!
Saskboy | 30-Aug-08 at 1:54 pm | Permalink
Thank you for the thoughtful comment Frankly C.
I agree with what you’re saying. I’ve voted Green before (having lived in a Conservative riding), and I’ve even voted for Ralph Goodale. I may even consider voting Liberal in this riding if the Greens set up more cooperation with the Liberals to ensure Greens are elected in seats where the Liberals stand down, and stand no chance.
Without a system of Proportional Representation, hundreds of thousands to millions of Canadians are CHEATED of their right to fair representation in our parliament. That the Greens now have an MP, makes this a great and historic day for Canadian democracy.
dylan | 30-Aug-08 at 2:09 pm | Permalink
Huge day! Huge news!
However, I find it increasingly disturbing that a media consortium, not Elections Canada, decides who stands on the stage at the leader’s debate… EC should be in charge of that and set clear, honest, guidelines as to whom can participate.
May should be there. There’s no reason for her not to debate on national television… well, at least there isn’t one yet.
Saskboy | 30-Aug-08 at 2:16 pm | Permalink
I agree completely Dylan. May should not have needed Wilson’s seat to end up in the debate.
Zach Bell | 30-Aug-08 at 7:10 pm | Permalink
I hate to interrupt the love in but Canada’s first green MP won’t even get to stand i the house if Harper pulls the plug on his own government before the fall session. I’m not sure this is a great and historic day for Canadian democracy Sask’ boy. That being said, it IS pretty cool.
While I can agree that Jim Harris should have ended up in televised debates (or heck, even uber-lefty Joan Russow) already and Ms. May should be in televised debates now, I think demanding that elections Canada handle the whole thing is just silly.
If elections Canada handled it, they would probably embrace the same rule set and because they are a government organization three things would happen in exceptionally and painfully predictable sequence.
1) EC would cave to the public’s reasonable demands to have the green party included in televised debates even without a single member in the HoC.
2) EC would set an arbitrary number like 500,000 as the number of votes a party would have had to have gotten in order to be eligible for the debates. They would change the rule so that they could allow the greens onto the stage.
3) Because this is a government organization, smaller parties such as CAP, the Marijuana Party, Christian heritage and so on would sue for inclusion in the debates. Their legal argument would be that Elections Canada set the number of votes as an arbitrary number and this disenfranchised voters who voted for the smaller parties. They would get the minimum votes rule struck down and we would have a stage with about 10 participants.
May as well tune into a two hour episode of white noise.
SkylarKD | 30-Aug-08 at 7:27 pm | Permalink
Hooray for the Greens! I’m eager to see the discussions on environmental issues during the debates!
Saskboy | 31-Aug-08 at 2:49 am | Permalink
Zach, ultimately the other leaders should be in the debates as well. It should not be based on past performance alone, but on being a leader of a registered party. The CBC should be providing much more time for debates throughout the campaign so that Canadians who are interested can have a chance to hear the parties explain platforms in detail, instead of listen for 2 hours to white noise as you call it. If you have 20 leaders to include, you just have more nights of debates, it’s pretty obvious if you think about it.
Zach Bell | 31-Aug-08 at 10:12 am | Permalink
I would have no objection to a larger number of debates…in fact i would love that. During one of the the Manitoba provincial elections, some station there did exactly that. They had a series of debates featuring “fringe” party leaders as well as the mainstream ones of course.
Ultimately what you want it seems is a mainstream media that is more engaged in the political process. In order to have multiple debates from television stations, you need a much more politically inclined population that is clamoring for exactly that…and we aren’t.
It’s easy to sit in a bloggery tower (so much cooler than ivory) and decree that the best way to do things would be to have more debates and ensure Canadians have greater access to political figures of the day…but Canadians aren’t asking for it.
Ultimately I would love to see the Marijuana Party leader have town hall meeting on the tube, go to a debate with the Christian Heritage Party the night after and see it all over again with other political figures. I am however something like 5% of the population in that respect from what I’ve seen.
Make it a government function fine but if you do you’re forcing the hand of media and telling them to cater to a very select market. That’s not a good way to do things in my mind.
Also, keep in mind that as a libertarian, I would see that as a terrible remedy even if the CBC were the only one to do it. I mean, the government funding a broadcaster is just wacko to begin with.
Oh and one last thing…you’re asking for something other than pablum from a syndicated media that probably forgot what investigative journalism was many years ago. They’re all advertising executives these days. They leave fact finding to AP and Reuters now.
Sean | 31-Aug-08 at 12:08 pm | Permalink
I haven’t been able to muster any interest in the Greens since May was elected as leader. Every time I hear her speak I’m plagued by mental images of her being chased around by men in white carrying large nets.
By all means, put her in the debates and let Canadians discover firsthand just how damned loopy she is. The sooner they do this the sooner the Greens will get a “real” leader, not a Liberal hanger-on.
Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy :: It’s Easy Being Green | 01-Sep-08 at 5:29 pm | Permalink
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