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Green leader May deserves to speak

It’s unfair that Elizabeth May is being denied a seat at the televised federal election debates.The leader of the federal Green Party participated in 2008 and acquitted herself admirably.She leads a party that captured more than 900,000 votes last time.

It’s unfair that Elizabeth May is being denied a seat at the televised federal election debates.

The leader of the federal Green Party participated in 2008 and acquitted herself admirably.

She leads a party that captured more than 900,000 votes last time.

When news broke this week that May would be denied a seat at both the English- and French-language televised debates, leaders of all the other participating parties said they would welcome her back.

That could represent their feelings as authentic democrats. Or it could just represent their calculating political savvy.

All of them know how badly they would be slagged by publicly opposing May’s presence, especially if another national party leader argued to let her attend.

So what’s keeping May on the outside looking in?

It’s the television networks.

Five national networks jointly organize the two TV debates — one in English and the other in French.

They forfeit revenue-producing airtime to broadcast the debates and share production costs.

One broadcaster supplies the technical staff and the broadcast feed, which it provides to the other four networks.

The networks set the ground rules. They have denied May a place on stage because neither she nor her party has a seat in Parliament.

Representatives from all five networks voted on the rules and were unanimously opposed to May’s presence.

A pox on all their houses.

It’s a stupid, short-sighted decision that makes the networks look like anti-democratic bullies.

Young people are more likely to support Greens. They are the future. Because they have to live in the mess we are creating for them, it’s important that we encourage them to become engaged in federal politics.

Denying the Green Party leader a seat at the debates will turn off some idealistic young people. That will leave the field more open to folks who get into politics for venal or private purposes rather than the public good.

The Greens were once represented in Parliament by a member, Blair Wilson, who crossed the floor from the Liberals in 2006. His seat let May take part in the televised 2008 election debates.

She could have her own seat after the election on May 2.

May has a much better chance of getting elected in the suburban Victoria area riding of Sidney, B.C., than she did in Nova Scotia last time, running against Tory heavyweight Peter MacKay.

May deserves a seat in Parliament and in the election debates this time because her party captured 937,613 votes in the 2008 election.

Under Canadian election rules, every party that gets more than two per cent of votes cast qualifies for federal funding — more than $2 annually for every ballot.

That money is critical for new parties to establish themselves and grow.

It’s also something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to abolish, because his Conservative Party is much better at soliciting donations from private and corporate donors than any of his political rivals.

A majority government could give him the opportunity to do precisely that.

Ironically, a stronger Green Party could enhance Harper’s chances of winning that elusive majority.

The Greens are more likely to bleed support from New Democrats and Liberals than from Conservatives, who — despite their name — are less keen on conserving the environment than their two chief rivals.

The Greens, with scant corporate support available, have to build slowly from the grassroots.

They are already doing that in big and small ways.

In Red Deer, they have a candidate, Ashkan Hamzehi, while thus far, the Opposition Liberals do not.

In the last election, the Greens raised their percentage of the national vote to almost seven per cent from 4.5 per cent in 2006.

In Europe, Green parties have grown from similar humble roots to become important political players.

If Canadian political parties win enough support to garner government funding, they have grown beyond the fringe. They deserve a spot at major election debates when Canadians decide who they want to govern them.

It should not be up to major corporate entities — the five television networks — to decide who gets to speak.

In the United States, an independent non-partisan, non-profit commission sets up national election debates.

They are much more comprehensive and useful for voters, consisting of three presidential and one vice-presidential debate.

American TV networks have the rights to broadcast the debates, and all of them do, but they don’t have the right to set the ground rules.

It’s a cleaner, fairer model.

It’s one that principled Canadian leaders should seek to emulate.

Joe McLaughlin is the retired former managing editor of the Red Deer Advocate.