Facts and Figures

• More than 940,000 Canadians voted for the Green Party in the last federal election.
• Public opinion polls show that the Green vote will be in the millions in the next election.
• Voters have a right to hear where ALL the major parties stand on the issues. That’s one of the cornerstones of democracy – an informed electorate.
• After all, Canadian taxpayers finance the Green Party. Shouldn’t they get to hear about its policies?

Tell the network executives who control the leaders’ debates that they cannot shut out the leader of Canada’s fastest growing political party. Sign our Petition!

Why the Debates Matter

Here’s what Canada’s Past Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley said about the leaders’ debates:

“Canadians today draw their electoral information primarily from television . . . The public broadcast of a debate held by several leaders of registered political parties is not a contribution to the parties but the provision of a service to the public.”

One in every 15 Canadians who voted in the last federal election – 940,000 voters – cast their ballot for the Green Party. If Canada had the proportional representation system adopted by a growing number of Western democracies, there would be between 15 and 20 Green MPs in the House of Commons right now. It is only because Canada has the first-past-the-post system that there are none.

The debates are the most important events in a federal election and an arbitrary decision to bar the Green Party will jeopardize the fairness of this election.

ALSO. . . . . .

• In the 1988 federal election the Bloc Quebecois did not exist. Gilles Duceppe was elected in a by-election two years later as an independent, not as a Bloc candidate. Despite having no seats in Parliament, no official recognition from the Speaker and only 75 candidates out of 295 ridings, the Bloc Quebecois was included in both the French and English debates. The Bloc has never fielded a candidate outside Quebec but continues to participate in debates in both official languages.
• In the 1988 general election, the Reform Party ran 72 candidates, received 276,000 votes and won no seats. By the time of the 1993 election, the Reform Party’s only sitting member was Deborah Grey following her win in a 1989 by-election. Reform did not have Official Party status and did not win a seat in the 1988 election but Preston Manning participated in the 1993 leaders’ debate, based on the 11,154 votes Deborah Grey received in a 1989 by-election with a 47 per cent turnout. In 1993, the party ran only 207 candidates.
• In 1979, the Social Credit Party was excluded from the debate despite the fact that it had 11 seats in Parliament at the time of dissolution. And in 1997, both the NDP and Progressive Conservatives were included in the debate despite not having Official Party status.