Bernier’s party denied spot at election debates
No ‘legitimate chance’ for seats, commission says
OTTAWA • Maxime Bernier, leader of the breakaway conservative party the People’s Party of Canada, may be blocked from participating in the two official election debates unless he can show his party has a “legitimate chance” of electing more than one MP.
That was the preliminary decision announced Monday by the Leaders’ Debates Commission, the body created by the Liberal government to organize two official debates this election, one in English and one in French. The commission is led by former governor general David Johnston.
The commission’s announcement says five parties are cleared to participate at the moment: the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Greens and Bloc Québécois. All have met the minimum threshold for participating under the criteria established by the commission.
“The Commission has not yet made a decision about whether the People’s Party of Canada satisfies enough criteria to be invited,” said the news release.
It said the commission “has not yet seen sufficient evidence to conclude that the People’s Party of Canada has a legitimate chance of electing more than one candidate in the next federal election.”
Bernier founded the party last year as a right-wing populist alternative to the Conservative Party after narrowly losing the Conservative leadership race to Andrew Scheer.
A People’s Party statement said Bernier is “very disappointed” in the commission’s preliminary decision, and said the commission appears to be relying “solely on polls.” Bernier had sent a letter to the commission arguing that “the recent political context in Canada and other Western democracies suggests that a populist party, even though it was founded only very recently, had an excellent chance of rapid growth and electing candidates.”
Excluded political parties, including Bernier’s, have been invited to provide more information to the commission by Sept. 9, and a final list of invited parties will be published by Sept. 16.
The commission is a change from the last election, where the debate model was essentially deregulated and left up to the private sector to organize. Prior to that, a consortium of broadcasters organized the debates, usually one in English and one in French.
The two debates for this election are scheduled for Oct. 7 and Oct. 10, with the campaign expected to formally start in the first two weeks of September.
Political parties must meet two of three criteria in order to be invited to the debates. The first is that the party is represented in the House of Commons by an MP who was elected under the party’s banner. The second is the party intends to endorse candidates in at least 90 per cent of ridings in the election. Bernier qualifies for the second one, but the not the first (he was elected as a Conservative candidates and then left the party).
That means Bernier must qualify for one of the two options in the third criterion. The first option is that the party received at least four per cent of votes in the last election — but this doesn’t work for Bernier, as his party didn’t exist then.
The second option — and the crucial issue at stake here — is that “based on the recent political context, public opinion polls and previous general election results, the Commissioner considers that candidates endorsed by the party have a legitimate chance to be elected in the general election in question.”
“With respect to (that criterion), at this time in the electoral cycle, we do not consider that the People’s Party of Canada has a legitimate chance of electing more than one candidate in the next federal election,” says a letter to Bernier published on the commission’s website. “I considered the information you provided on national polling and byelection results, however, I am on the view that the information does not provide a sufficient basis to conclude that more than one candidate endorsed by the People’s Party of Canada has a legitimate chance of being elected.”
The letter asks Bernier to submit a list of three to five ridings by Aug. 23 that he believes are the most likely to elect a candidate.
The letter concludes by saying the commission “believes the leaders’ debates are a fundamental and essential feature of Canadian democracy.”