Why Greens Are Being Shut Out (Sept. 8, '08)

It would have been wonderful for the Green Party if I’d spent today as planned , discussing our solutions to poverty and our guaranteed livable income policy. Instead, the event organized at the Ottawa Mission, where we donated local organic produce, turned into a media scrum that mostly dealt with issues of our inclusion in the debates. So let’s talk about the debates.
I was sitting with Mike Duffy LIVE in CTV studios when the news started filtering through to us from the media present that the media consortium was refusing to include me. Mike Duffy asked me on air what I would do now that the media consortium had declined to invite me to participate. I answered honestly that I hoped this decision would be reconsidered as I hadn’t heard anything from the media consortium directly (I have yet to receive any communication from them today). In terms of our response as a party, we have pursued the route of legal consultation. This is not a threat to the media consortium, but a decision based on the principles of democracy and fairness.
The reasons given for barring the Green Party from the debates are most interesting. Despite Stephen Harper’s ungrounded falsehoods (that I am the Liberal candidate in Central Nova, that the Liberal and Green are essentially the same party, that I will endorse Stephane Dion before the end of the election) the media consortium provide no explanation for their decision, except that the Leaders’ Debates would not have been able to proceed with me because the others wouldn’t show up. They said three out of four wouldn’t participate if I was there. Gilles Duceppe has publicly said in the past that he supports my inclusion in the debates, as has Stephane Dion. Jack Layton spent many months subtly opposing my presence in this cornerstone of our electoral campaign, but went silent when MP Blair Wilson became a Green. While Stephen Harper has been vocal and voluble in his objections, he has not even suggested publicly that he would consider refusing to participate himself if I were there to debate him.
It is clear from the consortium’s press release today that they are happy to stand behind the other four national leaders and allow themselves to be backed into a corner. It is also clear that at least one, if not more, of the leaders has acted in a duplicitous and anti-democratic fashion in forcing this decision on the media consortium. One, if not more, of the national leaders has threatened and hinted behind closed doors what they have not been courageous enough to say publicly. This is no surprise, given that the motivation for such threats and hints is the product of fear and crass partisan stakes.
The Green Party is a national party, we are running candidates in 306 ridings across the country, we have not endorsed any other parties. We have embraced the values of cooperation and respect, I personally have created mutual respect with many individuals from across the political spectrum, and we do pull votes from across that spectrum. The labels of left and right are not adequate to express the solutions we must put forward for the future. It is necessary to understand a full range of issues and a full range of perspectives to create a comprehensive vision for the betterment of society. This is what the Green Party does. Yes, Harper is afraid we are eating away at his base, cutting out a chunk of the Progressive Conservatives and courting the old Reform/Alliance members who believe in a grassroots democracy. Yes, we take support from the New Democrats. Our policies to end poverty forever in this country are more aggressive and socially progressive than anything the other parties are offering. Yes, we understand the urgency of the climate crisis, and we have the most well-developed, well-thought out, costed and effective climate plan of any of the other parties. So why are the other leaders afraid to let us in the debates? Let’s find out.