The leader of the Bloc Québécois is questioning why the Green Party can participate in a national televised debate even though the party falls short of qualifying criteria set by Canada’s Leaders’ Debates Commission.
“I have nothing against the Green Party, but if the rules disqualify it, how can we explain why it’s invited to the debate? The main effect is to reduce the speaking time of others,” Yves-François Blanchet wrote in a social media post in French on April 13.
The commission did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times. A spokesperson for the commission told the CBC it had “made its decision with respect to which political parties met the debate participation criteria 27 days before election day.”
“The timelines were set to ensure that the debates producer has sufficient time to produce a debate of high quality,” the spokesperson said.
Parties must meet two of three criteria to be invited to the debates: Having a sitting MP who’s been elected as a member of that party; having at least four percent national support in opinion polls; and running candidates in at least 90 per cent of all 343 ridings, which amount to 309.
The commission, an independent body, invited the Greens to participate in the debate, saying the party had met the first and third criteria. However, that invitation was sent a week before the April 7 deadline for parties to submit their final list of candidates.
The Green Party had submitted names for candidates in all ridings, on which the commission based its decision on April 1. However, Elections Canada only lists 232 Green candidates, for just 68 percent of all ridings. Nevertheless, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault will participate in the French debate on April 16 and the English debate on April 17.
At a press conference on April 14, Pedneault said, “it simply benefits Canadian democracy to have the Greens at the table and have as many voices to debate the future of our country.”
Pedneault also said People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier should be included.
“The PPC should be at the table because those are issues and views that Canadians actually hold,” Pedneault said.
The Green Party is polling around two percent and the PPC one percent.
Bernier said on social media that he received his first indication that he would not participate in the debate when Radio Canada TV host Celine Galipeau called Bernier in French “a leader who will not be at the debate.”
In a March 25 press release, Bernier said, “How is it possible that Ms. Galipeau know[s] this already? I think I have the answer. Radio-Canada/CBC will produce the debates, so they’re talking to the Commission, and I presume everybody there already knows that I won’t be invited.”
