The Green Party has been disinvited from the two federal leaders’ debates taking place this week.
The Leaders’ Debates Commission issued the decision Wednesday morning, just hours before the first debate.
It comes after the party decided to reduce the number of candidates running in the election.
The commission said the party “no longer meets the intention of the participation criteria to justify inclusion in the leaders’ debates.”
“Whether or not the Green Party of Canada intended to run 343 candidates, it has since made the strategic decision to reduce the number of candidates running, meaning that voters no longer have the opportunity to vote for those candidates,” the commission said in a statement.
“Deliberately reducing the number of candidates running for strategic reasons is inconsistent with the Commission’s interpretation of party viability.
Co-leader Jonathan Pedneault accused the commission of trying to silence the Green Party, describing their decision as unjust, baseless and undemocratic.
The debate will now feature the leaders of the Bloc Québécois, Conservative Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, and New Democratic Party.
Wednesday’s debate time changed
Meanwhile, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh won’t have to choose between politics and the playoffs — and neither will voters.
Wednesday night’s French-language federal leaders’ debate has been moved from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, avoiding a direct conflict with the Montreal Canadiens’ game at 7 p.m.
The change follows requests from both the NDP and Bloc Québécois, who argued the debate would lose viewers in Quebec if it overlapped with a potentially decisive game for the Habs.
“We’re asking people—especially in Quebec—to choose between a critical democratic debate and cheering on the Habs in a must-win game,” Singh said earlier this week. “This kind of political discussion shouldn’t compete with something that means so much to so many.”
Radio-Canada, which is broadcasting the debate, said the time change was made in partnership with the Leaders’ Debates Commission to avoid that clash.
There is precedent: a 2011 French-language debate was rescheduled for similar reasons. The English-language debate is still set for Thursday night.
