The boys’ club conspiracy keeping Liz May out of the debates

[Oscar]

The boys’ club conspiracy keeping Liz May out of the debates

[ http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/04/02/the- ... e-debates/ ]

By Michael Harris | Apr 2, 2015 8:59 pm | 23 comments |

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QUOTE: “Any political leader who truly cares about democracy, the environment and women’s rights shouldn’t be back-rooming Elizabeth May out of the 2015 debates. They should be serving notice on the consortium that if May does not participate, neither will they. Otherwise, Canadian democracy comes down to a barfing beaver.”

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Edward Albee could write a new play: Who’s Afraid of Elizabeth May?

Answer: Just about every political leader and the Big Kahunas of Canada’s corporate media. Who’s not afraid of her and, in fact, wants to hear more from the leader of the Greens? Canadians. They’ve told pollster Frank Graves they want May included in the TV debates in 2015.

At first blush, the political resistance to including May is hard to understand. No current MP or party leader shines more brightly. Her fellow MPs have voted her the best parliamentarian, best orator and hardest worker on the Hill.

She’s tied with Thomas Mulcair as the leader respected most by Canadians at 47 per cent.

No one has tried more valiantly than May to bring a measure of unity to the progressive side of the political spectrum (Liberal Joyce Murray and Nathan Cullen of the NDP deserve to take a bow too).

More importantly, May has fought all the good fights with great eloquence and grace, against a crude, thuggish government that is rapidly dismantling Canadian democracy. (The latest anti-Harper button being shopped on the Internet is the back of a nickel featuring an image of a barfing beaver and the caption ‘Heave Steve’.)

May fought like a lion against Harper’s Parliament-destroying omnibus legislation. Why is this type of legislation fatal for any representative democracy? Four simple words tell the tale: Government spending goes unverified. Thank you, former Harper information commissioner Robert Marleau. In their zeal to maintain the fiction that Steve is a politician like any other, most mainstream journalists have utterly ignored those words. Harper is a wrecking ball for democracy — and there’s no kinder way to put it.

May also came up with wise amendments to the government’s “Fair” Elections Act, a creepy piece of legislation which will make cheating easier and actually work to suppress the vote. Catching ballot bandits will now be next to impossible. Nor will Canadians know of their attempted crimes unless they lead to charges. Under the provisions of this cynical and regressive piece of legislation, there will be no more robocalls warnings issued by Elections Canada.

May was the first party leader to come out against Harper’s latest eruption of Darth Vaderism, Bill C-51. If you believe that removing civil liberties and lowering the threshold for police state tactics makes us safer, this is the bill for you.

The Tories denied May the right to speak about the government’s plan to expand Canada’s war with Islamic State into Syria without a plan and without a costing. I guess they prefer to listen to Defence Minister Jason Kenney’s lies and obfuscations. That’s what Harper specializes in: a democracy where he and his puppets always have the floor, and the rest are reduced to Lilliputians quivering in forelock-tugging silence.

No one has paid a dearer price for opposing Stephen Harper than May. She told me once that the prime minister had a visceral hatred of her, despite her trips across the floor of the House of Commons to hand-deliver the odd birthday card. May practises universal civility, while those on the government side typically offer the back of their hand in our increasingly dysfunctional Parliament.

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Michael Harris is a writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws for his “unceasing pursuit of justice for the less fortunate among us.” His nine books include Justice Denied, Unholy Orders, Rare ambition, Lament for an Ocean, and Con Game. His work has sparked four commissions of inquiry, and three of his books have been made into movies. His new book on the Harper majority government, Party of One, is a number one best-seller.

Readers can reach the author at michaelharris@ipolitics.ca. Click here to view other columns by Michael Harris.