Green Party Leader Elizabeth May fields questions after the French-language leaders' debate in Montreal on Sept. 24, 2015. May says she will take part in the foreign-policy debate on Sept. 28 by tweeting her responses to the questions.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Green Leader Elizabeth May won't be onstage for tonight's leaders' debate, but she plans to tweet a steady stream of foreign policy positions.
May is turning to Twitter to provide a perspective she says no other leader can — a woman's point of view on international relations.
Only the Conservative, Liberal and NDP leaders have been invited to the Toronto exchange on foreign affairs sponsored by the Munk Debates, a charitable organization.
"A federal leader's debate needs to be informed by women's values," May said Monday in a statement. "A woman's perspective on the refugee crisis, the plight of mothers in developing nations around the world, and the oppression of women is essential to the national discussion."
May has taken part in two national leaders' debates during the election campaign, but she used Twitter to insert herself into The Globe and Mail's debate on economy in September.
With the help of Twitter Canada, she recorded and uploaded real-time video retorts to the statements of other leaders.
This time, May has pre-recorded her video interventions on a variety of foreign policy themes due to other campaign commitments this evening, said Julian Morelli, the Green communications director.
Morelli expressed amazement that May – a leading voice on environmental issues – would be shunned from a debate in which global climate change will be discussed. "I just find that astonishing," he said Monday.
Both the Globe and Munk organizers have said they chose to invite leaders whose parties had official status in the House of Commons, which requires at least 12 seats. The Green party, Bloc Quebecois and Forces et Democratie each had two seats when Parliament was dissolved.
Munk Debates chairman Rudyard Griffiths has said that asking all six parties with MPs "would unduly limit our ability to hold a substantive debate."
The Greens have filed a complaint with the Canada Revenue Agency alleging the Munk format violates the agency's policies limiting the political activities of charities. The party awaits a response, Morelli said.