Posted by Phil Andrews
Here is a letter just received from Guelph candidate Karen Levenson:
I am outraged Elizabeth May is being denied participation in the national leadership debate. Unlike Gilles Duceppe, May has candidates all across the country, which the Bloc does not. Here in Guelph, the last Green Party candidate, Mike Nagy, trumped the last NDP candidate, Tom King, with 3,000 votes.
Since all of the national party leaders welcome May’s inclusion in the televised debate, there seems no reason to exclude her. Why, then, are Radio Canada and the CRTC not rescinding their ruling and why won’t they stand up for democracy and freedom of speech, principles that Canadians hold dear?
To quote Canada’s world-renowned communications theorist, Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message.” The message the consortium of broadcasters is sending doesn’t bode well for May or for other ‘fringe’ candidates who may face exclusion in some all candidates debates in Guelph and other ridings. The exclusion of any party from any of the debates sends a powerful message to the electorate that these parties and their platforms are marginal to the concerns of Canadians. Such is not the case.
While I am disappointed to learn that May will not be allowed into the national debate, I am also curious what the candidates from Guelph’s four mainstream parties will do when what the media call ‘fringe’ candidates are excluded from some of Guelph’s debates. It is easy to support the inclusion of May in the national debate, since none of the candidates in Guelph have the power to influence the broadcast consortium’s decision. But Guelph’s four mainstream candidates do have the power to influence that all the candidates running in Guelph can participate in all of the debates. Will they stand up for democracy or will they stay seated? Only time will tell.
Karen Levenson
Guelph Candidate
Animal Alliance Environment Voters
www.environmentvoters.org
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