Elizabeth May was all smiles as she poured over the Wednesday morning papers at a Pictou Tim Horton's.
“It's like Christmas morning,” the Green Party Leader says to Ron Kelly, a local campaign volunteer.
The Halifax Chronicle Herald penned a forceful editorial called “Censoring the Greens.” It decried the actions of other party leaders to block Ms. May from taking part in the leaders' debates.
“Barring Ms. May from the leaders' debate is a disgrace to democracy,” concluded the province's paper of record.
But what had Ms. May even more excited was the call by former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Joe Clark that she be included in the debates. Mr. Clark, who never joined the Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper, compared Ms. May to U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.
“Ms. May shares essential democratic attributes with both Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain – the outsider, the person the party establishments sought to exclude, the person with a message that resonates with citizens who've grown cynical about, or disaffected from, their political system,” he wrote in a column published in the Globe and Mail.
Mr. Clark stopped short of endorsing Ms. May, but certainly came pretty close.
More support arrived on Wednesday morning as Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said he would call the consortium later that day to ask why Ms. May was excluded.
Speaking at a roundtable of women candidates this morning in Streetsville, Ont., Mr. Dion criticized Mr. Harper and NDP leader Jack Layton for not supporting her participation.
“They don't have the courage to explain their position,” said Mr. Dion, suggesting they are hiding behind the consortium's decision.
Meanwhile, a small group of angry Green party workers tuned out to an NDP campaign event in Oshawa, Ont., to demand that Ms. May be allowed to take part in the leadership debate.
“Let Elizabeth speak,” they shouted, waving Green election signs across the parking lot from the microphone where Mr. Layton was proposing a strategy for job creation.
“The majority of Canadians want Elizabeth at the debate,” said Cavan Gostlin whose ex-wife, Pat Gostin, is running for the Greens.
“Democracy is about serving the wishes of the majority,” he said, showing a sign in which the letter D had been crossed out of NDP.
Many New Democrats have quietly expressed some discomfort with their party's stand on this issue. Mr. Layton's Facebook page has been inundated with posts from people claiming to be New Democrats expressing dismay.
It has been quite the week for Ms. May, the leader of a party that barely received any attention in the last campaign under former leader Jim Harris.
In pictures, editorial cartoons, radio and television interviews and online petitions, Ms. May has received the kind of attention a small party could only dream of.
Not all of the comments fit with Ms. May's message however.
Environmentalist David Suzuki, who has urged people to vote Green in the past, was quoted this morning hoping for the end of the Greens.
“I can't wait until there is no Green Party,” Dr. Suzuki was quoted as telling the Toronto Star.
“As long as there's a Green party, the implication is that the Greens somehow have a stranglehold on this issue; they're the ones that worry about the environment so the other parties can worry about other things. I don't think it's a ghetto subject.”
An environmentalist close to Dr. Suzuki said the comments were merely a rhetorical complaint about how the other parties view the environment and not a criticism of the Greens.
As she flipped through the papers at Tim Horton's, customers came by to offer their support. She is running in the staunchly Tory riding of Central Nova, held by Conservative Peter MacKay.
