Crawl Across the Ocean

Monday, December 05, 2005

Green Party Won't Be Heard During the Debate - Unless You Make Yourself Heard Now

Chris at Murky View has issued a call to action for anyone who thinks that Jim Harris, Green Party leader should be included in the televised leader's debates.

Here is the Green Party petition on the matter, and here is a petition you can sign to express your displeasure.

And thanks to Chris, here are some people you can call and express your support for the Green Party's right to be heard:

The CBC:
Phone: 1-866-306-4636
Or web/email: http://www.cbc.ca/contact/index.jsp

Radio-Canada Nouvelles (news):
Phone: 1-888-306-4636
email: http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/pourNousEcrire/

CTV:
Phone: (416) 332-5000 (Ontario)
news@ctv.ca

Global (Corporate):
Phone: (204) 956-2025 (Manitoba)
email: viewerrelations@globaltv.ca

Global National TV
email: globalnational@canada.com

Finally, the debate is accepting questions from 'the floor' so you could email the moderator at: question@electiondebate.ca suggesting that they ask the parties what it was about the Green Party that scared them so much they had to exclude them from the debate (or make up your own question on the topic - perhaps something less confrontational is more likely to be aired (e.g. Do you feel that the Green Party should have been included in this forum, why or why not)).

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Oh, you're wondering why the Green Party should be included in the debate? I saved the actual argument for my next post, so those who are already on board could get on with it and start harassing people.



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Note: post updated to include Green Party petition.

posted by Declan at Monday, December 05, 2005

5 Comments:

  • Thanks!

    By Blogger Declan, at 2:40 PM  

  • Thanks - I'll call right now and make sure I tell those folks to keep the Green party out until they manage to win a seat.

    By Blogger Andrew, at 3:31 AM  

  • I'm guessing you're (kind of) joking, but do you really think that is a logical criteria to use -if so why?

    See my more recent post for my thoughts on this.

    By Blogger Declan, at 1:29 PM  

  • I'm actually quite serious. I do not believe the Green Party deserves inclusion in the televised debates until they can win a seat in a federal election. Otherwise, what they have to say is of no concern to anyone... they have no chance of influencing things. Think of them as a more popular version of the CHP.

    Now - is it fair that they don't have a seat? Well no - first=past-the-post is a moronic system, and we need to change it (for many of the reasons you mention in your more recent call to action). BUT, it's the system we currently have, so the national debates should be structured around the leaders who matter.

    By Blogger Andrew, at 4:40 AM  

  • So you're saying that what the Green Party has to say is of no concern to the over half million people who voted for them last election and the (estimated) over a million people who said they were their second choice last election?

    What if, to take an extreme example, the Green Party ended up finishing second in every riding this election by one vote, getting, I don't know, 5 million votes or so. Would you still maintain that they had no place in the debate because what they had to say was of no interest to anyone?

    To take another extreme example, what if the Green Party vote collapsed and they got no votes at all, anywhere except in one riding which they snuck in and won with 26% of the vote (say 8,000 votes or so). Next election they decided to only run a handful of candidates around the area they won their one seat. In this case you would support including the Green Party in the debate?

    By Blogger Declan, at 5:33 PM  

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