Good morning everyone.
I have class in less than two hours, but I figured I’d take some time out of my morning to update my blog. Besides, an extremely newsworthy story that’s got me all fired up has just surfaced, and I need to vent.
An election has been called, but that’s not the news, though it’s election related.
Recently, the Canadian network consortium, featuring suits from all the major Canadian networks, ruled that Green Party leader Elizabeth May would not be allowed to speak in the upcoming Leader’s debates. Moreover, as if corporate lackeys shitting on our democracy and rights wasn’t enough, three major party leaders supported this gross affront to all things democratic as well. The Right Honourable PM Stephen Harper, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, and New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton have all agreed that May should not be allowed to have her say, making ludicrous claims saying that May is essentially “Dion’s candidate in Central Nova.”
Now, in the past, the Green Party has been barred from the debates because they had no representative in the House of Commons. With the recent floor-crossing of former-Independant MP Blair Wilson, the Greens do have a representative and therefore, in my opinion, should be allowed to have their leader (and, subsequently) their ideals and goals showcased in the Leader’s Debate. Don’t even get me started on the fact that the Green Party is supporting prospective candidates in 306 ridings; many more than Gilles Douceppe’s party.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a staunch NDP supporter, and have been for the few years I’ve been politically aware. At the ripe age of 18, that’s about 3 years. That being said, the fact that Jack Layton and the NDP supported this decision, and that Layton even went as far as to say he wouldn’t attend the Leader’s debate if may did, has me seriously reevaluating my support of the NDP. They are still far more favourable to me than any party currently existing in Canada, major or not; but that doesn’t make me feel any less insulted by them.
I planned to vote NDP in the upcoming October election, and likely still will. Though, I almost want to give my vote to the Green Party candidate in my riding instead, just to send a message, (however small the message may be.) I’ve never been very fond of May, or the Green Party. But I am fond of democracy.
It pisses me off that Gilles Duceppe is allowed to attend the Leader’s debate while Elizabeth May is not. One is an environmentalist, focused on reducing emissions, countering climate change, and ultimately, saving lives. While a lot of the Green Party’s ideas are fairly detrimental to the economy at large, and far too lofty for the often apathetic Canadian electorate, they are still markedly more beneficial to the nation than those of a frickin’ seperatist party!
Duceppe and the Bloc exist only to undermine Canada, and our legislature. They are only in power because the first-past-the-post system is terribly flawed, and their ideals and goals are based on an archaic notion of tribalism and an us-vs-them mentality.
It’s a sad state when a man who desires to dismantle a country gets more rights from said country than a woman who wants to save it.
I’m one pissed off Canadian at the moment.
How do you feel about this decision?
2 Comments
October 4, 2008 at 12:09 am
It’s called democracy. The Bloc Quebecois is more relevant in Canadian politics and gets a much larger percent of the vote and number of seats than the Green party. The Bloc shouldn’t be allowed to participate in the debate because some people don’t like their viewpoint? And who decides which viewpoints are valid and which aren’t? You? The government (we call that a dictatorship, BTW)? And they should absolutely be allowed to participate in the English language debate, because there are English speaking people living in Quebec. Some of them will vote Bloc – like me.
October 6, 2008 at 9:57 am
Listen, sir.
I was by no means trying to put forth the notion that the Bloc Quebecois didn’t have a valid viewpoint. What I was saying, though, is that in a Federal Election, it is ludicrous to give rights to a provincial, separatist party, and not to a party with a national platform.
Fundamentally, I am opposed to the Bloc Quebecois. However, I realistically accept that they have strong support in Quebec.
What I don’t like, though, is people abusing our electoral system, and that’s what the Bloc does. They win a large. hefty sum of seats simply because the first-past-the-post system is broken and allows them to. I understand that the people of Quebec have their own concerns, but so too do other provinces.
Also, Canada is one of the most decentralized federalist systems in the world, so Quebec (and indeed, all provinces) have a fair amount of autonomy.
That being said, the Greens were allowed to participate in the debate, so it’s really a non-issue at this point.