Don't Touch That Dial!

24 Hours columnist Bill Tielman makes the case for including Democratic Reform BC Leader Tom Morino in the upcoming televised leaders debate.

B.C. is one of the few places where TV debates can swing an election. Had it not been for Gordon Wilson's performance in 1991, the BC Liberals might never have grown to the point where they looked good enough for Gordon Campbell and his pack of Socred rejects to hijack. This time around, the NDP hopes to use the proceedings to show off its "extreme makeover", as personified by leader Carole James.

However, debate producers (a closed door cabal of media executives, as opposed to a transparent, non-partisan body like the Commission on Presidential Debates) have opted once again to deny BC voters a clear view of their electoral choices. Adrienne Carr and the Green Party, who have never elected anyone, and were blown out in the Surrey-Panorama Ridge byelection, are in. Tom Morino and Democratic Reform BC, who actually have an MLA (Elayne Brenzinger, Surrey-Whalley) are out.

In Alberta's last Provincial Election, the far-right Alberta Alliance and its lone MLA were invited to the televised dance. Tielman is right to cry foul:

"TV executives met behind closed doors in late March to negotiate a deal that cut Morino out of an unprecedented multi-station leaders' debate, likely May 3. "

Mind you, how Tielman can spot the differences among, say, an Executive from Global TV, an Editorial Board Member of the Vancouver Sun, an Officer of the Vancouver Board of Trade, and a B.C. Liberal strategist is astounding - they all blurred together for many of us over a year ago. His key point, and one this page agrees with, is that cutting Morino and DRBC out is a move by the Liberals to appear unopposed on the right, while the Canwest cartel continues to perpetuate the falsehood that the Greens are a left-leaning party to siphon NDP votes. Let's go to the videotape...

"We trust business to do the right thing"
-Adrienne Carr, 2001 Leaders Debate

Wow. Better than Castro. Had me storming the barricades, I'll tell ya...

Make no mistake, this is a political machination, but like all machinations, it may yet backfire for Campbell, the Liberals, and the media that prop them up like so many senior citizens unable to find long-term care beds. Morino could successfully play the sympathy card out of his exclusion, and supplant the Greens as the anti-establishment protest vote. Carole James, if she's smarter than Ujjal Dosanjh, could, with all of BC watching, take the gloves off with the Green Party and spell out the clear differences between her and Adrienne Carr once and for all. Campbell could be forced to watch his vote-splitting Trojan Horse toppled from his debate podium.

As they say in that business, stay tuned...