Green Party of Ontario calls for democracy in Provincial Leaders’ Debate

Green Party of Ontario calls for democracy in Provincial Leaders’ Debate

Toronto, Ontario – Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike Schreiner, penned an open letter to Ontarians today. Despite public outcry, the Green Party of Ontario was excluded from the provincial leader’s debate.

“I would have welcomed the chance to go head to head with the other Leaders,” says Schreiner. “As a small business owner who grew up on a farm, I know first-hand how to create jobs and responsibly manage our financial and natural resources. Greens are tackling the tough issues with straight talk and sensible, long-term solutions that need to be heard in the debate.”

The Green Party is running a full slate of 107 candidates in every riding in the province in this election. The Green Platform, released before the other parties’, tackles the major challenges facing Ontario today, with a long-term perspective that secures our children’s future.

The Green Party is clearly part of a growing global political movement that has elected officials all over the world – including seats in Germany, Britain, Australia and most recently, in Canada at the federal level with the election of Elizabeth May earlier this year. The Greens in the German state of Baden-Württemberg also formed government earlier this year, a global first.

Irrespective of the consortium’s decision to exclude the Greens in tonight’s debate support has been gaining for their inclusion in this election:

According to an Ipsos Reid poll released on Monday, September 26, three quarters of Ontarian’s agree that the Mike Schreiner should be included in this year’s Leaders’ Debate.

People across the political spectrum support fair and inclusive debates – municipal councillors, community leaders and members of all parties have signed a grassroots campaign ‘Mike at the Mic’, started by Dave Meslin, a Toronto community activist.

TVO has recently announced that Green Party candidates will be included in all of their election debates. This decision was made democratically according to Steve Paiken, “…after seeking input from our production team, [we] realize that the Greens had fully developed, and in some cases, quite different positions from the three mainline parties on a host of other issues as well.”

Dozens of organizations, including the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business have asked for the Green Party’s position on a wide variety of issues.

The Green Party of Ontario will be hosting a rally at 6:30pm at 87 Harbord St., to raise the issues that will likely not be covered in tonight’s debate – real relief for rising energy prices by helping people save money by saving energy, a plan to create jobs and tackle climate change, and a smart, fair, equitable school board system.

“The other parties speak about issues that area carefully calculated to gain power,” said Schreiner. “They neglect the real issues facing Ontarians and someone needs to make them answer for that.”

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Media Contact
Rebecca Harrison
Director of Communications
Green Party of Ontario
(c) 905-999-5479
(e) rebeccaharrison@gpo.ca