Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

BTC: Sorry Liz

by Aaron Wherry on Monday, September 8, 2008 3:51pm - 32 Comments

Fresh from the inbox.

“The Consortium approached the parties to explore the possibility of including the Green Party in all or part of the Leaders’ Debates. However, three parties opposed its inclusion and it became clear that if the Green Party were included, there would be no Leaders’ Debates. In the interest of Canadians, the Consortium has determined that it is better to broadcast the debates with the four major party leaders, rather than not at all.”

The cynical reaction? This might be the best thing to happen to Elizabeth May.

First, she’s relatively untested on the national stage and there’s no guarantee she would have succeeded against Messrs. Harper, Dion, Duceppe and Layton. As much as appearing might have given her legitimacy, she might just as easily have bombed.

Second, as various the comments below seem to demonstrate, this may only galvanize support for the Greens in some sectors.

Tags: Election Watch, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton, Stéphane Dion, Stephen Harper

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T. Thwim

Has the Consortium approached the parties to explore the possibility of including the Conservatives in all or part of the Leaders Debates? The Bloc? The Liberals?

Duh. Of course they’re going to say “We don’t want them” Hell, if they could, they’d each prefer a debate where they were the only speaker. If the Consortium said, “Greens are in. You can not participate if you want”, does anybody really think *any* of them would refuse?
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

When I read this post I got a chill down my spine. Who the hell is ‘The Consortium’ and why do they get to decide anything?

I have now done some goggling and The Consortium is not as ‘star chamber-ish’ as it sounds but I still don’t like it. I understand a line has to be drawn somewhere but I don’t like where it’s been placed this time. The green party seems to have significant support across Canada and their leader should be heard. And it would be entertaining to watch May run verbal rings around the rest of them.
john g

Good call. She leads a fringe party that has no chance of winning more than 2 or 3 seats, if that, and is openly cheering for some Liberal candidates.

If I were a Green party member, I’d be furious with Ms. May, what with having sold the party out to the Liberals.
anon

If the Bloc had ZERO elected for the Bloc and a booted MP that spent ZERO days in the Commons with the Bloc the exact same question would be asked.
T. Thwim

anon: They did. In 1993. They were in the debates.
Sean S.

Pardon my language, but this is bullshit. No matter where one stands on the Greens, this is abuse of power. Just so we’re clear on this: the BQ can participate, even though they don’t run candidates outside of Quebec. But the Green party – having now met the criteria previously used to keep them out – are now subject to the whims of the other parties?!

May I suggest everyone donate a bit to the Green party in support of their forthcoming legal action to get included? Even if you don’t plan to vote for them, this seems like a time for all of us who care about democracy to make ourselves heard.
http://challengingthecommonplace.blogspot.com Chrystal Ocean

This news is disgusting. That three of the parties didn’t want May in the debates speaks volumes about their view of what ‘democracy’ means and the rights of voters.

The Cons have an excuse. No one expects those neocons and Republicans in sheep’s clothing to act honourably.

But the once-grassroots NDP hasn’t a leg to stand on in its failure to support the inclusion of the Greens in the debates. It was crass partisanship that was at play here, in all its ugliness.
Anon

Actually, this is wonderful news for Liz May. THIS will now be the story for the next day, at least. Harper will be asked about it soon enough, and there goes another news cycle. Layton, the next day, and on and on.

And Liz can just play the old-boys’-victim-card and milk it for all it’s worth. She must have a secret admirer somewhere.
Wassim

Which three parties?
Sean S.

“Which three parties?”

Cons, NDP and BQ
http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis (Second Thots)

Wassim, it has to be the Tories, NDP, and Bloc. The Liberals want her in the debate. Harper says it’s because, well, she’s a Liberal. She certainly acts like it sometimes.

I might add that, if anyone should take responsibility for this decision, it should be the networks, too.

They could have easily included her, have the three party leaders bow out, and make them look like they refused to debate her.

Instead, the networks buckled.
Wayne

Lizzie May took an axe and gave the Consortium 40 wacks When she saw what she had done she gave Dion 41! – personally I would love to see her in the debates the more the merrier what will be funnier though is if the Greens actually do good in this election and the Liberlas fall through the floor the ol honeymoon with Dion might take a sudden turn in an unexpected direction.
Kevin

Simply put, she did this to herself. Do you suppose that when she was endorsing Dion for PM, she ever considered the potential impact of that statement down the road?

She’ll sue, of course, and anyone who has recently donated money to the Greens will be proud to know that they have lined the pockets of some already-wealthy lawyers.

They’ll lose, too. The courts won’t directly inject themselves into the electoral process unless electoral law says they have to. Again, her public statements in support of another party leader for PM will make it easy for the court to wash its hands of the whole mess.
anon

TT, sorry but Lucien Bouchard, Nic Leblanc, Louis Plamondon, Benoît Tremblay, Gilbert Chartrand, François Gérin, Rocheleau and Jean Lapierre etc. did sit together for more than ZERO days.
Ryan

The only way I can make sense of Dion wanting May in the debate is if he knows she will ultimately endorse the Liberals in non-competitive Green ridings (read: all but three or four across the country). Otherwise she just splits the left-of-centre / environmentalist vote even further.

Has she ever explicitly denied this eventuality?
T. Thwim

No Bloc MP’s sat together. They weren’t an official party.
Pingback: paulhillsdon.com » Blog Archive » Send in the Greens!
TobyornotToby

“We asked four of your competitors and all but one agreed that you shouldn’t be allowed to do business in Canada.” That’s effectively what the consortium is saying to the GPC.

Actually this could be good news, because it will give the Greens a chance to change something about our faltering democratic process and help the cause of taking back our public airwaves from the advertising industry. Can’t see a court not siding with full and fair airing of opinions by all federally funded political parties.

I can’t wait. Injunction junction chooowhoooo …
TobyornotToby

Style question … when I say “consortium” do I need to pronounce it in all CAPS with a bit of reverb? Maybe a host of cherubim singing in the background?
http://economics.about.com Mike Moffatt

“The cynical reaction? This might be the best thing to happen to Elizabeth May.”

Agreed. I’m quite certain she’s disappointed but being so publicly shafted by two of the most untrusted groups in Canada – politicians and media/journalists can only win her support.

See: http://www.legermarketing.com/documents/spclm/070522ENG.pdf

Now all she needs is a used car dealers association to go after her and she’s got it made.
http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis (Second Thots)

Given a choice between being shafted by “the man”, and being legitimized through inclusion in the debates, I think she would have chosen the latter.

Unless there is some public outcry, she will end up losing to MacKay and we might not hear from her again.

I think that’s the reality.
http://skinnydips.blogspot.com SD

In 1993, the Bloc had several MPs who had crossed the floor mostly from the Conservatives. The other parties wanted those Bloc ridings that the Bloc was invited to the debates. If the Greens had 12 MPs who had crossed the floor from the other parties, those parties would be inviting the Greens to the debates; those parties would want the Green ridings to turn a different colour.
Jenn

This is outrageous. I think it says something about the other political parties, but not much since its a bit of a no-brainer to not want her there. However, that this consortium actually allows their wants to rule is unbelievable!

What do we know about the consortium? What networks specifically, who are the, I don’t know, Presidents, Directors of News, old boys in charge?

How dare they decide who I can hear ask for my vote?

T. Thwim has it exactly right.
KRB

T. Thwim: “No Bloc MP’s sat together. They weren’t an official party.”

What are you talking about? Of course they were a registered party, and they had 8 MP’s sitting in the House (actually recognized by the Speaker, in the House) before the 1993 election.

They didn’t have official party status, but they were categorized as Bloc Quebecois members.
http://www.gauntlet.ca Jason Morris

Let’s be clear, here. She didn’t do this to herself. The other parties and the Consortium did it to her. The release didn’t say that the Consortium had been impressed with the other party leaders’ arguments that she was supporting the Liberals. It only said that they were trying to appease them, whatever their reasons for opposing her inclusion.

They threatened not to play if the Consortium included her, and the Consortium folded.

The fact that the people running the debates can be manipulated out of something as plainly fair as following the standards they themselves adopted for who will and will not be included eliminates any credibility that they had in the first place.

Maybe the consortium should ask some more of these questions. I wonder how the other parties feel about the Bloc being included? Maybe then we could ask the remaining three whether or not the Conservatives should be allowed. Maybe we should ask them what sorts of questions they’d like to see asked? Why not? If we’re not nice to them, they might not come.

Idiots.