The Green party will no longer participate in the federal leaders’ debates after failing to meet the participation requirements, largely due to their “strategic decision” to pull candidates from ridings where Conservatives are projected to win.
“Deliberately reducing the number of candidates running for strategic reasons is inconsistent with the Commission’s interpretation of party viability, which criterion (iii) was designed to measure,” wrote the Leaders’ Debates Commission in a statement Wednesday.
“The Commission concludes that the inclusion of the leader of the Green Party of Canada in these circumstances would undermine the integrity of the debates and the interests of the voting public.”
Criterion (iii) requires that “28 days before the date of the general election, the party has endorsed candidates in at least 90% of federal ridings.”
While the commission had invited the Green party to participate in the French and English debates because it met all requirements in March, the invitation was revoked after reducing the number of candidates the party would field in this election.
The party had initially submitted a list of 343 names, but now only has 232 candidates listed, according to Elections Canada.
In addition to the latest removal of those 15 candidates expected to lose out to Conservatives, the Green Party would still be left without representation in 96 ridings across Canada.
Despite this, the Green party claimed they still met the necessary debate criteria, calling the decision an attempt to “silence” them, according to party co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault.
“Today the Leaders Debate commission is trying to … silence us,” said Pedneault during a campaign stop in Montréal Wednesday.
“Their last minute decision to exclude the Green Party of Canada from the leaders debate is not only unjust and baseless, because we met the criteria, it is undemocratic.”
According to Pedneault, the decision was the result of a “coordinated campaign by the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives commentators.”
“People who are less interested in informing Canadians than they are in protecting their political turf, they’re afraid,” said Pedneault. “They’re afraid not of chaos or confusion, but they’re afraid of a clear voice that’s calling for change and that’s fighting for Canadians.”
Peadneault went on to say that he fully expects to attend tonight’s French debate in Montreal.
“I fully expect the debate commission to reverse their decision, their undemocratic decision,” he said.
However, the commission concluded that the party’s decision to remove candidates for strategic reasons was the reason for their removal from the debate.
“Whether or not the Green Party of Canada intended to run 343 candidates, it has since made the strategic decision to reduce the number of candidates running, meaning that voters no longer have the opportunity to vote for those candidates,” the commission said.