Expert: Marcus K. Rochefort - 1/12/2006

Question
Why is it that Bloc Quebecois are allowed to run in the federal election when they dont have a constituency in every province, while the green party is downplayed, ignored, and held from public debate?

Answer
Michael,

Good of you to ask this question, which is important and largely deals with equity.  My apologies for the late response, I thought this was already answered by me.


The reason why the Bloc Quebecois is allowed to run in the Federal Election is because no party is officially required to  have a candidate in each of the 308 ridings across the nation.  If you do have this, you have greater party status, and do receive greater funding from Elections Canada/the Federal Government.

One must be able to separate the Bloc Quebecios question, from the Green Party question; they are completely two separate issues and therefore need to be looked at through different lenses.

The Green Party has historically (and currently) been downplayed, ignored and held from public debate due to a strong lack of public.  As of today, the Green Party, a federalist party with a candidate in 100% of Canadian ridings only hold 4.3% of Canadian support, whereas the Bloc Quebecois holds 12.3% of CANADIAN support, which is entirely based out of Quebec too!

The New Democratic Party holds 15.7% of public support, yet at the same time, they receive very little media attention, compared to the Bloc Quebecois as well.

Injustices are nation-wide, party-wide too.  One must realize that the media also presents what they choose to present.  Even if the Green Party had 90% support of the nation, the media could choose to show 98% Liberal-Conservative material.  Not so fair is it?

Look at the NDP's platform and stance on Proportional Respresentation, in attempts to bring greater democracy to the Canadian public, and to those that vote.  I think you would be pleased with their attempts to bring more of a Green-voice into parliament.

Respectfully,

Marcus K. Rochefort
www.ndp.ca