Good Sunday Morning and Happy Easter!
I am still so appalled by the events of this week (the dreadful decision to exclude Greens from the leaders debates!) and know you will have lots of questions.
Talk about a rude awakening. We had had such a lovely evening with Green volunteers on Salt Spring Island on Tuesday night (April 15) after a packed house for the all candidates meeting — Well not ALL candidates. Cathie Ounsted is not showing up anymore after coming to the one private event at Berwick at Royal Oak. We gathered afterwards at Moby’s pub — still such a sentimental favourite from May 2, 2011 when Salt Spring Greens had all been together there when the news flashed across the screen that we had defeated the Harper cabinet minister to win the first Green seat in Canada. I went to sleep feeling very positive and excited for Wednesday and to watch co-leader Jonathan Pedneault take on the other leaders.
Our National Campaign Manager Robin Marty had let us know throughout the day that the debates commission had asked for more clarifications due to media confusion. Robin reported that the confusion had been cleared and we were on.
So it was more than a shock to be awakened at 4:30am with the news that the Montreal-area team had received a letter at 7:20am Eastern time uninviting us! Well you all know this by now. But the details make me increasingly angry.
This letter was sent to the Commission Wednesday morning setting out our reasons for demanding a reconsideration:
To Debates Commission,
We urgently request a reconsideration. You have erroneously concluded the Greens acted in “bad faith.”
The sole basis of this conclusion rests on an offhand comment which was misinterpreted. It is clear this one misunderstanding is the sole reason for our last minute exclusion:
On April 15, 2025, the Commission became aware of public comments made by the leader of the Green Party of Canada stating that the party had made a strategic decision not to run a full slate of candidates in certain ridings, as reported by Radio-Canada.
Please provide any evidence that we removed candidates. You cannot, because we did not.
We need to trust our institutions. We have been assured of the essential fairness of the Commission. We are not going to reply in kind and allege any bad faith, but it does undermine the solid reputation of impartiality and fairness of the commission that despite direct and clear responses to all questions from the commission, in real time through the day yesterday, we were shocked to receive your letter at 7:20 AM ET today and subsequently learned the media had been aware the night before.
We unequivocally reject any suggestion we deliberately removed candidates.
No such removal of candidates occurred. This was made clear to you by National Campaign Manager Robin Marty in response to your questions. Given the media efforts to pressure the Commission into excluding the Green Party of Canada, we understand the stress the Commission was under. But a lobbying campaign from national newspapers and other parties cannot justify the Debates Commission violating its own process.
In the interests of the future of the Debates Commission, in the interests of full and fair debates, the very reason the Debates Commission was created in response to the collusion between parties that led to national debates being canceled in 2015, we urge you to reconsider.
Your previous rulings were correct. The GPC met your criteria.
Debates in Canada since the 1960s were inconsistent in having no rules under a media “consortium.” Nevertheless it was well understood that the political reality of Canada required that any party with elected MPs in the House of Commons qualified for the debates. We have hundreds of candidates running and in every province across Canada. We have elected MPs sitting as Green MPs at dissolution of the House. These MPs are from two provinces. Yet the result of the commission violating its own rules today is that a party running in only one province will be able to explain its ideas to a national audience while the Greens are silenced.
We are available to meet. We expect a podium and fair rules as co—leader Jonathan Pedneault will expect to participate today. In normal circumstances we would have filed an application for certiorari in Federal Court, but given the last minute nature of this exclusion we are estopped from pursuing legal remedies.
With thanks,
Robin Marty
No such reconsideration was allowed. The French debates continued without us. Meanwhile we continued to press and to attempt to secure a lawyer to file a last-minute request for an injunction. No lawyer we contacted believed it would be possible to be heard by a federal court judge. Not only had the Debates Commission told media the night before they informed us of this reversal, it had also moved the debate forward by two hours to avoid conflict with the Habs game! I should have been paying more attention to the question of who was running the commission.
When it was first created, former Governor General David Johnston was Commissioner. I met with him early on to discuss a fair way to include parties with MPs elected and potentially to include parties that did not yet have MPs elected. We also discussed how to create a weighted system so a party like ours, with candidates across the country was included, without excluding the Bloc Quebecois only running in Quebec.
The reputation of an eminent person as commissioner for the Leaders Debate Commission, a non-legislated body created by Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet in time for the 2019 election (by Order in Council) is a rather critical part of having the commission function. It did not register for me until this debacle that when David Johnston stepped down in spring 2023 to take on the foreign interference file for our former PM, the position has remained VACANT! so all decisions are being made by the senior staff, Executive Director, journalist Michel Cormier.
To say he botched it is a massive understatement. We do need clear rules for leaders debates. Cormier changed the rules overnight (literally). He must resign, but meanwhile the enormous damage done to the Green Party is tragic. This is the first time since leaders debates began in Canada in the 1960s that a party with elected MPs, the Green Party of Canada was kept out of the debates. We are running over 240 candidates in every province, NWT and the Yukon, while the Bloc has 78 candidates, all in Quebec, and they put out an erroneous statement that we were not running enough candidates.
Meanwhile, we do the work!! We have MPs to elect! Fortunately I hope the fear—factor voting will be dissipated. See this link from The Economist confirming what I see in polls that Pierre Poilievre is not anywhere near the Prime Minister’s office. I am in a tight race here in Saanich—Gulf Islands. The same holds true for Paul Manly in Nanaimo—Ladysmith. For both SGI and NL their next MP will either be Green or Conservative. This should not be a tough choice! Paul Manly has shown himself to be an extremely effective MP—a consistent voice for justice and climate. We both need to be elected to stop a Conservative win, yes… but also because hands down we are the best choice for the citizens we hope to represent. Please volunteer for his campaign if you can spare any time between now and election day.
Please in the time remaining help us in the comments sections in icky social media and spread the word to friends and family. It is a Carney government and we need Green voices in Parliament more than ever. I have known Mark Carney for years and know I have his respect. We can work together. But the deep commitment to fossil fuels runs in the veins of the Liberal Party. We must be louder and more effective for the sake of our children and all God’s creatures and Creation itself.
Please help if you can. My team is reachable at VoteMay.ca and we still need volunteers. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!
Love,
Elizabeth
P.S.
Upcoming!
April 22 Tuesday
Deadline to vote by mail
You will vote using the special ballot process.
April 23 Wednesday @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
North Saanich Residents Association All Candidates DebateSaanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church 9296 E Saanich Rd, North Saanich, BC, Canada
April 25 Friday @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Zoom Town Hall with Elizabeth May
RSVP