I read with interest the complaints that the Green Party will not be included in the televised national party leaders debate.
Quite right.
Until it elects at least one member the Green Party is simply a group of people with like ideas, not a national political party even though it may be registered as such.
Similarly the Bloc should be excluded from the national debate being quite obviously a provincial political party, not national at all, and the sooner that’s recognized the better.
As for a commission being formed to decide who participates in the debates as suggested by two columnists in The Globe & Mail, I trust this was an April Fool’s joke.
The broadcasters will donate free air time, give up hundreds of thousands of dollars in playoff hockey revenues and spend upwards of $200,000 of their own money to produce the debate on five networks.
I suppose one might compel the CBC to broadcast free of charge under the supervision of a “commission” but the other four networks, comprising the majority of viewers, are private businesses unlikely to accept dictated no-charge programming as happens in less savory areas of the world.
Michael Tindall
Vernon, B.C.
