News

The Green Party is out of the leaders debates after the Conservatives and the NDP refused to share the stage with Elizabeth May, and no other party would go to the wall for her.

"They said it was a no-go," a source said yesterday about the Conservative position on Ms. May's participation in the campaign classic.

The New Democrats refused to participate if Ms. May was invited because they regard her as a Liberal since she is working with Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion — who is not running a party candidate in her riding, NDP spokesman Brad Lavigne said. She has also praised Mr. Dion's leadership, the NDP said.

"We said we would not accept the invitation to participate because the Greens did not have an elected member of Parliament and that Ms. May had endorsed Mr. Dion as prime minister," Mr. Lavigne said.

The Conservatives have argued Ms. May is running unopposed by the Liberals in her Nova Scotia riding and could throw her support to them at the end of the campaign.

Ms. May also came under fire yesterday for sending a mass e-mail offering her support to a Liberal candidate running against Conservative minister Jim Flaherty.

Ms. May had the support of only the Liberals in her efforts to join the big parties in front of the television cameras on Oct. 1 and 2. However, Mr. Dion said yesterday his priority is to face off against his Conservative counterpart ahead of the Oct. 14 election.

"I would like her to be there, but I will not participate if Stephen Harper is not there," he said.

Ms. May decried the manoeuvring behind her exclusion. She promised to continue to fight to appear in the debates to be held in Ottawa, pointing out she has a lawyer working on her behalf.

"This is anti-democratic, closed-door, backroom decision-making by four national party leaders who are all men and five television executives — who are all men — to keep out the one woman leader of a federal party," Ms. May told reporters on Parliament Hill.

"I don't think many Canadians will think that was fair."

The decision on the national debates was made by a consortium of television broadcasters after consultation with the representatives of the four official parties in the House.

"Three parties opposed [the Green Party's] inclusion and it became clear that if the Green party were included, there would be no leaders debates," spokesman Jason MacDonald said in a release.

"In the interest of Canadians, the consortium has determined that it is better to broadcast the debates with the four major party leaders, rather than not at all."

The parties rejected the consortium's attempt to find a compromise, including a suggestion to let Ms. May take part in a portion of the debate.

Jack Layton, the NDP Leader, was evasive yesterday when asked about the issue.

At stops in Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories and later in Vancouver, he answered questions about his party's opposition to Ms. May by saying he was excited by the prospect of debating Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

When accused of ducking the question, he said he objected to Ms. May joining the debate because of her support for Mr. Dion.

"There has been no new party elected to the House of Commons since the last election and one of the people who wanted to participate in the debate is supporting one of the others for prime minister," Mr. Layton said.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the decision to bar Ms. May respects the long-standing criteria that party leaders are invited when they have an elected MP in the House.

"The rules are the rules are the rules," Mr. Duceppe said.

The decision on the debates was issued as the party leaders crisscrossed the country in an effort to stake the political ground that they hope to claim on election day.

Mr. Harper is making no major promises in the early part of the campaign, preferring to cast himself in a family-friendly light. He made a carefully staged appearance at a middle-class house in the tightly contested riding of Richmond, B.C., to highlight his past tax cuts and accuse the Liberals of wanting to increase taxes.

Mr. Dion said a Liberal government would bring down tougher gun-control rules in response to the 2006 Dawson College shooting, promising a ban on military-style firearms. Mr. Layton flew over oil-sands developments in Alberta to call for tougher environmental protection.

Mr. Duceppe went to Trois-Rivières and then to Quebec City, where he met with the provincial capital's mayor.

With reports from Jane Taber, Gloria Galloway and Campbell Clark