Canada’s Leaders’ Debates Commission is defending its decision to invite Green Party co–leader Jonathan Pedneault to this week’s debates, even though the party is well short of a full slate of candidates.
Parties must meet two of the following three criteria in order to be invited to the debates: Having at least one sitting MP who’s been elected as a member of that party; having at least four per cent national support in opinion polls; and running candidates in at least 90 per cent of all ridings.
The commission, an independent body tasked with organizing the debates, invited the Greens earlier this month, saying the party had met the first and third criteria.
But that invitation was sent a week before the deadline by which candidates had to finalize their nominations with Elections Canada.
The commission said the Green Party had submitted a list of 343 names in March, but Elections Canada only lists 232 candidates running under the Green banner — meaning the party has candidates running in roughly 68 per cent of all ridings.
“The commission made its decision with respect to which political parties met the debate participation criteria 27 days before election day. The timelines were set to ensure that the debates producer has sufficient time to produce a debate of high quality,” a spokesperson for the commission said in an email to CBC.
Pedneault said Monday that he should be included in the debates even though his party has a smaller slate of candidates.
“I think it simply benefits Canadian democracy to have the Greens at the table and have as many voices to debate the future of our country,” he told reporters.
Pedneault argued that the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), which didn’t receive an invitation and hasn’t won a seat in the House since its formation, should also be included.
“Even the PPC should be at the table because those are issues and views that Canadians actually hold,” he said.
On Sunday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet took issue with Pedneault being allowed to participate.
“I have nothing against the Green Party, but if the rules disqualify it, how can we explain why it’s invited to the debate? The main effect is to reduce the speaking time of others,” Blanchet wrote in a French social media post.
The French-language debate is Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. The English debate takes place the following evening at 7 p.m. ET.