The Green Party Is Dead
Sorry folks, they had a fun run, but really how can a party ostensibly dedicated to democratic reform pull a stunt like this?
From now on, they're just like all the other party-hopping floor-crossing inside-Ottawa tradidtional parties. Maybe they always were; now they just have an MP.
Ideals must have been fun while they lasted, eh Liz?
From now on, they're just like all the other party-hopping floor-crossing inside-Ottawa tradidtional parties. Maybe they always were; now they just have an MP.
Ideals must have been fun while they lasted, eh Liz?
posted by James Bowie at 11:13 AM
16 Comments:
Hell hath no fury like a Liberal scorned.
Um, dude, we booted the person in question.
Whooee! If we had a true democracy with proportional representation, there would be 12 or 13 Green MP's sitting as a result of the 2006 vote. If we had televised debates regulated and run by a non-partisan official body like Elections Canada, there is little doubt Elizabeth would have been seated a at the debate. Instead, we have an archaic first-past-the-post system that allows a candidate to win with as little as 20.1% of the popular vote and we have a panel of TV network executives, the Broadcast Consortium, deciding the rules of the TV debates.
Stephane Dion is the only big three leader who has consistently called for May's inclusion in the TV debates. The other men in suits are clinging to the arbitrary rules of their buddy boys in suits in the Broadcast Consortium. The TV debates are enormously important and fairness demands that the Green leader be allowed to debate. Green Party support is well above Bloc support and Greens run candidates in all provinces. How can the TV suits justify keeping our leader out of the public eye?
I'm not exactly thrilled with this Wilson guy due to his questionable past with regard to campaign financing and his troubles with the LPC. I do agree, however, with his statements concerning the debates and that appears to be his main motivation in joining the GPC.
What's so wrong with letting the voters see Elizabeth May and allowing them to make up their own minds?
JB
"Hell hath no fury like a Liberal scorned."
How original.
The fact that Stephen Dion is cozy with Ms./Mrs. May doesn't help any.
I admire Dions fight for the environment, and............I can see why he felt it was necessary to meet with her, support/prop her up, etc. Ms. May was stupid to take a cheap shot at Dion like this, someone who seemed like a friend to her, I don't take any delight in what she did.
In all honesty, this is why Stephane Dion will never get elected PM, he is too damn nice. I can't even say that about Harper who I support, the guy is a hard a$$, plane and simple.
Garth Turner.
Same thing.
This is the era of symbolism.
First Black candidate for Pres.
First Women candidate for VP.
First Green MP.
Safe to say that the riding will go Conservative?
Ms. May was stupid to take a cheap shot at Dion like this...
Shot at Dion? I can't see anywhere that May has taken any shots at Dion. Wilson was kicked out of the LPC. He was sitting as an independent. He joined the GPC. May allowed that to happen but I can't see how that constitutes a cheap shot at Dion. Maybe you've seen a quote or report that I haven't seen.
JB
Jimbobby,
Political parties are free to decide with whom they wish to debate. For example, Harper could decide to debate Dion, Duceppe, Layton separately or all three together. He could decide to debate Elizabeth May on their own or with the other leaders if they so agree. This is not Maclean's magazine and a Human Rights Commission. Harper nor any other leader should be forced to debate anyone else. Heck, if some court forced the inclusion of May, then Harper or any other leader could decide not to debate anyone at all. The only way a Green leader will be invited to a TV debate is if the other parties think they can grab more votes from the Greens than they can lose. Currently, the opposite is the case if they invite the Green Party.
"Ms. May was stupid to take a cheap shot at Dion like this...
Shot at Dion? I can't see anywhere that May has taken any shots at Dion. Wilson was kicked out of the LPC. He was sitting as an independent. He joined the GPC. May allowed that to happen but I can't see how that constitutes a cheap shot at Dion. Maybe you've seen a quote or report that I haven't seen."
I can't think of any quote or reporting saying "Greens take cheap shot at Dion", maybe and editorial. Even if it was written, who cares, I don't need to regurjitate media releases for you.
I will concede it is not a cheap shot now that I have found out he resigned from the Liberal party, I thought he was dismissed. So I stand corrected.
Regards. :)
This is a good day for Canadian democracy.
Political parties are free to decide with whom they wish to debate.
I think you are uninformed about how the TV debates are staged. It is not the parties or their leaders who decide on who is included. It is a small group of powerful TV network executives. They do not have any written rules. They make up the rules to suit them as they please.
Any political leader who chooses not to participate in the televised debates would be committing political suicide. The problem is not with the party leaders. It is with the broadcast consortium. Elizabeth May represents 650,000 voters who cast their ballots for the Green Party in 2006. Those voters come from all across Canada. Gille Duceppe represents voters from 75 ridings in Quebec, yet he is included. He is even included in the English language debates that take place outside of Quebec.
If you like the fact that the most important political events of any Canadian election are manipulated by powerful corporate media moguls, then you've got what you want.
Those media powerhouses made up a rule that inclusion in the debates requires a sitting MP. After appealing to them on the basis of 650,000 2006 votes and on the basis of opinion polls showing GPC support at twice the BQ and tied with the NDP, the TV execs still insisted on a sitting MP. Now, we've played by their (unfair) rules and we have an MP. Live with it.
Real fairness would result if the rules were made by an official non-partisan body like Elections Canada. Unfortunately, we have to play by the existing rules and that's what we're doing.
JB
I will concede it is not a cheap shot
Thanks. Regards to you, too, B777. :)
I have to agree with Jim Bobby on both those comments, Ms. May should have been included in all the debates/panels thus far. I also find it odd that every time a political news story or television show gathers spokes people from the four main parties to make comments or give opinions and even debate various topics, the Green Party is never included. I hope Craig Oliver/Jane Tabber, Peter Mansbridge, Don Newman begin to finally include representation from a party that holds support from a serious percentage of Canadians. I have learned that a number of polls taken resulted in 70%+ of Canadians feel that the Greens should be included in debates. As for Skinny Dippers comment that elected officials should not have to even bother attending such debates is appalling, imagine a Prime Minister being elected not by their policies/reputations/results but by the advertising companies ability to hire the most believable actors and create the most attractive commercials, all the while collecting huge dollars from corporate sponsors (Big Business) to pay for it! That seems like an assault on democracy if you ask me, I would rather see every candidate have the equivalent ability to get their message to the public of what they stand for. As for the union between Wilson and May, I believe them both when they say the circumstances were right and so was the timing. This will give Mr. Wilson the best chance to win that riding, and for Ms. May this is a historic event that brings the entire world closer to a united democratic system of free speech, free enterprise, and free elections. I have never voted for the Greens, however I vote for what is needed at the time and which candidate will deliver the results I believe we need.
Ideals must have been fun while they lasted, eh Liz?
Coming from a Liberal, that priceless.... I guess you are not acquainted with reality....
Oh, SNAP!
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