Wednesday April 16, 2025 | NATIONAL NEWS [Reporting from VICTORIA, BC] | Posted at 2:30 pm PT | Updated 3 pm
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Green Party of Canada Co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault will not be on the stage this evening for the televised federal leaders debate.
While meeting other criteria (like having at least one MP in the latest House of Commons), the Green Party was found to have not met the required 309 candidates (90% of Canada’s 343 ridings). That info was known a week ago, but the Leaders’ Debates Commission for some reason waited until today to disqualify the Greens.
Now four party leaders will be on the stage tonight: Mark Carney (Liberal), Pierre Poilievre (Conservative), Jagmeet Singh (NDP) and Yves-François Blanchet (Bloc Québécois).
This allows more time for each of the major party candidates to engage in debate on behalf of viewers and voters.
The Commission is independent but might be required to explain their decision at some point. The idea of having 309 candidates across Canada was obviously not met by the Bloc which only has candidates in Quebec.
Green comment:
This afternoon Pedneault said that Canadians would be disappointed to not have Greens in the debates tonight and tomorrow.
“This is a sad day for democracy,” said Pedneault in a press conference statement this morning.
The other co-leader of the Green Party of Canada is Elizabeth May. She happens to be participating in a Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce ‘Listening Session’ about local federal issues of interest to the business community, this evening in Victoria.
Two-hour debates:
Tonight’s two-hour debate is in French (starting 6 pm ET / 3 pm PT). Tomorrow night’s debate is in English (starting 7 pm ET / 4 pm PT). Both commercial-free debates with a single moderator are being broadcast live from Montreal.
Comments from NDP:
Arguably now the progressive side political spectrum is now ‘owned’ by the NDP in these debates tonight.
“A lot of people are disappointed. Many of my supporters this time have voted for the Green Party in the past,” says NDP incumbent Laurel Collins (Victoria).
“They are telling me this time — with this tariff crisis — they can’t afford to take a chance. They are voting NDP on Vancouver Island as the best way to stop Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives,” says Collins.
“Here on the Island, everyone knows the contest is between the Conservatives and NDP. That’s the contrast Islanders will be looking for in the debate,” says NDP candidate Maja Tait (Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke).
“We need leaders that show up and work hard, rather than riding on the coat tails of their leaders. Every day I’m hearing more people say that they are sticking with the NDP as the best way to stop Pierre Poilievre and to defend what keeps Canada, Canada.” said Tait today, just hours ahead of the French debate.
Possible impact:
This exclusion of the Greens from the leaders debates may serve to ‘rally the troops’ and bring out more progressive votes for the Greens on Election day.
Or it might send a subtle signal that the Greens may not have robust federal stature as a party, leading some currently undecided progressives to lean orange and vote NDP.
For voters who might now reconsider their Green vote, they might not choose NDP and instead park their vote with the Liberals or the Conservatives which will only add to the strength that both those parties have toward forming government after April 28.
Any way you look at it, this is a blow to the Green Party on many levels.
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