Let the Green Party In

Our voting system renders a million Canadians invisible, and unpredictable debate rules don't help.

Join Elizabeth May for a live conversation on The Mark’s Facebook page as she answers your questions all day today, Friday, April 8.

I have a funny feeling about the debate decision and it starts from the way I was treated in the Calgary Stampede “Best Dressed Leader” contest.

The first year they noticed me in the contest, 2008, I was voted “Worst Dressed Leader” at the Stampede. I can learn and I realized second-hand denim was not a western look. So the next year, 2009, I got to Calgary a day early, went to an outfitters store, and let them tell me what I needed. One impressive buckle, and a rhinestone studded shirt later and I was voted “Best Dressed Leader.”

Now, why should I care? Only that claiming the space on the national stage as leader of a serious political party sometimes means doing things that are not serious. Skits on Rick Mercer, singing with Bob Rae and Lisa Raitt and Paul Dewar at the NAC. Flipping pancakes at the Stampede. Wherever the Libs, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc are found, so too will I.

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So in 2010, I went back to the same Calgary western outfitters store. The sales clerk who helped me the year before had, on her own hope and initiative, been setting aside things she thought I would like. I felt I belonged now. I was all ready for the annual contest. Strange thing. They did not pick a best-dressed leader in 2010. The whole tradition disappeared.

So, we go back to 2008 and the fight to get in the national leaders’ debate. I was told I could not be in the debates. We were told it did not matter whether we had a seat or not. Or whether we ran in 308 ridings. It was constantly confirmed that the media has no rules or criteria for the murky and mysterious process by which Canadian federal leaders’ debates are organized.

The hidden, “real” reason for my exclusion came to light within hours. Jack Layton and Stephen Harper had said that if I was included they would not show up. Public outrage was swift and palpable. Within two days, Layton withdrew his threat and then so did Harper.

We all remember what happened. The ratings for the debates went up. Issues were discussed differently because I took a different approach. I listened to each question and answered it as fully and honestly as I could. I was challenging, but I was focused on issues, not personalities. And many pundits said I won the debates.

In 2008, the Greens were the only party to receive more votes than in 2006. With a voting result of nearly one million votes, we set a new historic record – the largest number of votes for a party that did not win a seat. With 1.3 million votes, the Bloc won 49 seats. This is not a reflection of public support as much as it is a measure of the perverse results of a voting system that can render nearly one million Canadians invisible.

We run candidates in 308 ridings. We are a truly national party. We are the only party (other than the ones invited to the debates) that has met the thresholds set by federal election laws to receive public financing. And somehow, I cannot be included in the debates, but the Bloc leader can? I am not against Giles Duceppe’s participation, but it boggles my mind that, in a modern democracy, a party with the support of one in ten Canadians, higher in most polls than the Bloc over the last three years, can be excluded from participation.

In 2008, Canadians spoke loudly in the interests of fairness and a democratic, inclusive debate. Please, I ask all Canadians to speak up loudly once again.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.