Exclusion of the Green Party from the Leaders' Debates

demanddemocraticdebates.ca/petition.html

As always, debate and discussion is absolutely welcome.

We don’t need the Green Party to be represented.  Our Prime Minister is following the same logic with Kyoto that he is with WIPO, isn’t he? 

I’m not much of a political activist, I basically just vote all the time and occasionally rant anonymously on the Intertron, but I just fired off a scatching letter to all of the addresses included on that Green Party list I linked.

I am so disgusted by North American politics. Instead of reasoned, intelligent debate we have this sort of stuff:

I CAN SPEAK VERY LOUDLY AND WAVE MY ARMS IN WILD GESTURES WHILE REPEATING A POSITION THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE VERY CLEAR, MR. SPEAKER!!

Everybody knows that when an MP does the “Mr. Speaker” thing, that he’s addressing the camera crews, not the speaker for the house. Our entire political process is about achieving a powerful position. Getting elected. Becoming an MP. Becoming the Prime Minister. We only care about bullet point, polarizing issues (abortion, gun control, tasers). We make huge deals about personal drama like it’s a fucking reality TV show.

Politics should be about policies. Government should be about governance. But perhaps the fault lies with the public, for putting up with it, for enjoying the show. Maybe we don’t deserve democracy.

Edit: This was not the letter that I sent, even though my first sentence might have made it seem that way.

Eso, I share so much of your thinking it’s actually scary. 

I couldn’t agree with Eso more. That’s why I think it is important Canadians don’t get warped in to the election sideshow and stay focused on key LOCAL and national issues. Locally there are some issues as to how we move economically and sustainably.
Whether or not the Greens deserve to be in on a debate is a good question. But perhaps a better question is why isn’t there a push by local candidates to hold a public debate? I know what the leader debate stands for (cynicism aside) and it is a valuable tool for election information. But you really don’t vote for the leaders but for the local candidates. 

[quote=“BakerWriter”]
it is important Canadians don’t get warped in to the election sideshow and stay focused on key LOCAL and national issues. Locally there are some issues as to how we move economically and sustainably. [/quote]

HEAR HEAR

BTW: Loved Monday’s article Baker! See if you can (read: get the editor to) keep the front page focus on those local issues.

I am sad to say that there are plenty more dismal and revealing statistics where those ones came from!

Little bit of a followup: cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/stor … bates.html

Well-said, Eso.  I couldn’t agree more!

“In a democracy, people get the government they deserve.” -Adlai Stevenson

I can’t but think that apathy comes strongly into play here.