I'm thrilled that the Greens have cracked the one-MP mark.
The media consortium made it a requirement for participation in the televised debates that parties have at least one Member of Parliament.
The GPC now has one MP. Ergo, by the consortium's own arbitrary rules, the leader of the GPC should be allowed in the debates. That's what a large majority of Canadians have indicated they want, poll after poll. That's what they should get.
Would it have been better had the Greens' first MP been someone else? Yes. Would it have been better had that first MP been one that had run and been elected as a Green? Yes.
However, not one Green member of any government worldwide has been elected with a first-past-the-post electoral system, which heavily stacks the deck against grassroots parties trying to break through. The global Greens have elected people to office only through proportional representation systems.
Therefore, for Canada's Greens it has been a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. If they can't get the media exposure which is so vital in Canadian elections, that of participating in the televised debates, then they haven't a chance of winning even one MP in a general federal election.
The Greens' best chances have always been with by-elections. There are four in the works as I write, three to come up for vote September 8th, one September 22nd.
Alas, Stevie-baby has taken a tantrum, is reneging on his promise and own law regarding fixed election dates, and is about to call a general election in advance of the by-election polls.
Stevie doesn't want the Greens in the debates.1 Neither does the NDP's Jack Layton.
Makes one wonder what these leaders are afraid of.
As to their reasons for excluding May, she addresses them in the interview linked above.
Bring on the debates!
1 That link is to a CTV interview with May, aired earlier today. You'll have to suffer through the Cons' nauseating TV ad first, but the May interview is worth waiting for.
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