May is no Rory

Elizabeth May is demanding that her Green Party be included in the next election's televised leaders debate, despite the fact that the Greens have never elected anyone to the House of Commons. While this page understands that some Canadians do support the Green Party, my respect for them as a political entity is withheld until they do the work of electing enough MPs to have official party status, rather than having that status handed to them because they held their collective breath and clicked their own web site until they turned blue.

It didn't escape my notice that former British Columbia Green Party leader Adrienne Carr stood beside May at yesterday's press conference/plea for attention, basking in her usual holier-than-thou smugness. Real progressives in BC had to put with four years of Carr's shenanigans, such as trespassing in the Speaker's corridor and assuming she could participate in Question Period without a seat in the Legislature. It didn't help that Carr was aided and abetted by a pliant pro-Liberal media corps determined to humiliate the New Democrats at every turn.

Asking people to vote online for official party status is another example of the Greens' disrespect for parliamentary tradition. In fact, Carr once argued that because the Greens received 10% of the popular vote in BC's 2001 election, they had to be included in the 2005 debates. How did the Federal Greens do back in January? 3.5%, which makes the Greens 6.5% less credible than they were last year. Strategically, they would have been better off focusing on a winnable riding or two and build the party over the next few elections. Instead, these organic anti-union right wingers, who think Corporate Canada will listen to reason on climate change, and wouldn't recognize poor people if they dropped dead in front of them, want it all, and want it right now.

Elizabeth May belongs in the Leaders Debate as much as Rory Fitzpatrick belongs in the NHL All-Star Game. At least Fitzpatrick is willing to play the rules and knows how to skate.