Elizabeth May and the Greens
I had the oppurtunity to catch Elizabeth May on Michael Smyth's "Nightline" on CKNW last night. And I have to admit, I'm impressed. She spoke well, articulating her points and coming across as a well reasoned person, unlike the stereotypical enviro you think of, running around like Chicken Little swearing the sky is falling.
Most of us by now have heard about the fact she doesn't carry a cell phone. Michael brought that up last night, right at the beginning of the interview. It was the way she answered the question that impressed me the most. She explained that it had to with the EMF's (electro magnetic fields) generated by them and the possibility of health risks. However, she did state several times that the reports she had seen were unconfirmed. She just said she personally felt more comfortable not taking the chance and I can't really argue against that.
She also brought up something I've had a problem with for awhile. Why is the Green Party excluded from the leadership debates? Alright, I know that the TV networks have stated that the rule is you must have a seat in the House of Commons to be in. BS, I say. To paraphrase Michael from last night, "if I'm paying to support you, I wanna hear what you have to say" refering to the fact that the Green Party will receive a little over a million dollars of taxpayer money for getting 4.5% of the vote in the recent election(due to the campaign finance reform under Chretien). CBC carries the debate, right? And we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill there, aren't we? If Bell and co. don't want to carry the Greens we can't do much, but I think with enough public support we can get at least CBC to include them.
Most of us by now have heard about the fact she doesn't carry a cell phone. Michael brought that up last night, right at the beginning of the interview. It was the way she answered the question that impressed me the most. She explained that it had to with the EMF's (electro magnetic fields) generated by them and the possibility of health risks. However, she did state several times that the reports she had seen were unconfirmed. She just said she personally felt more comfortable not taking the chance and I can't really argue against that.
She also brought up something I've had a problem with for awhile. Why is the Green Party excluded from the leadership debates? Alright, I know that the TV networks have stated that the rule is you must have a seat in the House of Commons to be in. BS, I say. To paraphrase Michael from last night, "if I'm paying to support you, I wanna hear what you have to say" refering to the fact that the Green Party will receive a little over a million dollars of taxpayer money for getting 4.5% of the vote in the recent election(due to the campaign finance reform under Chretien). CBC carries the debate, right? And we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill there, aren't we? If Bell and co. don't want to carry the Greens we can't do much, but I think with enough public support we can get at least CBC to include them.
Technorati Tags: Elizabeth May, Green Party, CBC
posted by Daz at 10:22 a.m.
2 Comments:
It is sort of ridiculous that a party running candidates in every riding is not allowed to even tell voters what they are about.
We should be able to agree (like the Green Party or not) that if you are getting millions of dollars in federal funding our national broadcaster must put you on. Would at least shake the normal boring debates up a little.
You're right Matt, that its ridiculous that the Greens have been excluded. It's clearly a partisan move, because all other logic and democratic ideals don't lend themselves to excluding an official party. Especially one that could mathematically form the next government. The voters decide who is legitimate in the campaign on election day, not CBC weeks before the public has their final say.
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