Letter to the Globe: Leaders' Debate Eligibility

There was a bit of a fuss during Canada's recent election campaign over the decision to exclude the Green Party from the leaders' debates. The Party had not met either of the percentage-related criteria set out by the Leaders' Debates Commission--the party's candidates for the most recent general election (2021) had not received at that election at least 4% of the number of valid votes cast; and neither, when the 2025 general election was called, had the party received "a level of national support of at least 4%, determined by voting intention, and as measured by leading national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly-reported results." But in between those two points in time, the party had often polled above 4%. This was the letter that I sent to the Globe (and that it published April 21, under the heading "Fair Play"):

Re “Green Party says it is being silenced after commission disinvites it from leaders’ debates” (April 17): The current rules take no account of polling fluctuations over time. It would be fairer if parties that have polled over 4% at any time since the previous election be allowed to take part. Under those rules, both the Greens (which have often polled above 4% since the 2021 election) and the People’s Party of Canada (which polled above 4% in the summer of 2022) would have met the polling criterion. Perhaps small parties should be allotted less time than the larger parties to make their case—but allowing them at least some time to make their case surely serves the interests of democracy.