Canada’s Green party has been removed from the country’s two election debates amid accusations it would “undermine the integrity” of the events, just hours before leaders square off in Montreal.
The last-minute upheaval follows a decision to shift the timing of the first televised debate on Wednesday evening over fears the French language showdown would clash with a closely watched Montreal Canadiens ice hockey game.
The independent leaders’ debates commission announced on Wednesday morning that it had revoked the Green party’s inclusion from both the French and English debates after determining the party “intentionally” reduced the number of candidates running in the election for strategic reasons.
“Deliberately reducing the number of candidates … is inconsistent with the Commission’s interpretation of party viability,” the commission said in its decision to revoke the inclusion of the party’s co-leaders, Jonathan Pedneault and Elizabeth May. The commission said that inclusion of a Green leader would “undermine the integrity of the debates and the interests of the voting public”.
Canada’s federal election is on 28 April. Only two debates will be held: one in French on 16 April and the other in English on 17 April.
In order to qualify for the only two federal debates, a party needs to meet two of three criteria: it must be running candidates in at least 90% of Canada’s 343 ridings 28 days before the 28 April general election, poll above 4% and have a sitting member of parliament. Despite initially indicating they would run a full slate, the Greens eventually only nominated 232 candidates.
Pedneault accused the commission trying to “silence” the party, and said the last-minute change was “unjust and baseless”.
The decision to exclude the Greens came a day after commission shifted the debate timing to avoid clashing with the Montreal Canadiens-Carolina Hurricanes match. The team is facing a must-win game in order to advance to the national hockey league playoffs.
On Tuesday, both the Bloc Québécois and New Democratic party requested the debate be rescheduled. The NDP said in a news release that failing to change the timing of the debate would effectively force people to choose between “political engagement and national pride”.
“Hockey is in our blood,” said leader Jagmeet Singh, adding the commission risked looking “out of touch” with the national mood if it didn’t change course.
Later that day, the commission relented and agreed to move the debate to 6pm eastern time, a decision supported by all parties.
The last time Montreal reached the playoffs was 2021.
Changing the debate because of an important hockey game has precedent: in 2011, the then Bloc Québécois leader, Gilles Duceppe, asked for the French-language debate be rescheduled to avoid conflict with a key playoff showdown between the Canadiens and the Boston Bruins, a request the commission agreed to.
The Liberal party is polling ahead of rival Conservatives and poised to capture a majority government. For the Tories, a party that has seen a dramatic reversal of political fortunes, the debates are widely seen as a last-ditch attempt to regain momentum.
Source: theguardian.com
