The Green Party had over 665,000 votes or about 4.5% of the popular vote during the last Federal election, and they had a candidate running in every riding, but you will not see Elizabeth May on the televised leadership debates. I am not a member of the Green Party, but I do believe they have enough popular support that they deserve inclusion. Certain bench marks must be made clear to ensure a fair election and to ensure real representation of the voters. We have an archaic first pass the vote system in Canada, so parties like the Greens get no representation at all, while the Bloc Quebecois who only has candidates in Quebec gets a disproportionate amount of seats. The Bloc Quebecois are not a national party but their leader takes part in the televised debates. There is no law that decides who gets included or excluded on the televised debates; instead it is the Broadcasting Consortium who makes the decision. Why are we leaving our democracy and freedoms in the hands of the Broadcasting Consortium? Why do television broadcasters get to decide what voices get heard during an election? We need a Federal Law with clear guidelines to decide who gets included in a debate. I understand why some think we can not have every fringe party represented on televised debates, but when a party gets over half a million votes; those Canadians definitely should not be marginalized! We need something fair and consistent, for example a benchmark of 3% of the popular vote from the previous election and/or one elected member in the House of Commons. A Federal law might not be perfect, but it would be fair and consistent and transparent. Democracy must be protected by the law, and not left in the hands of broadcasters.

-Jason Setnyk