God help anybody who dared to utter a politically incorrect word or even think a politically incorrect thought about things like "refugees", immigration and multiculturalism. The cult of "diversity" reigns supreme in the Great No-longer-white North, and anyone who dared to challenge the conventional wisdom was to be silenced.
When "Mad Max" announced the formation of the People's Party last fall, Elections Canada (a creature of the Canadian government, Just In Trudeau, Prop.) decreed that it wasn't a party, and couldn't be until it had so many thousand members. Done, and quick too! Well, then, they said, you can't be a party until you have fielded candidates in a certain number of elections or by-elections. Done! So, in February, Elections Canada reluctantly allowed that, yes, the PPC was officially a party, and could start giving out tax receipts for donations. End of story? Not quite?
Canada's lamestream media stepped in at this point and made a secret agreement that even if M Bernier was technically the leader of a political party, he wouldn't be treated as such, and would be "deplatformed" -- not given any but the barest minimum opportunity to speak through the mainstream print and broadcast channels.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcorping Castration) is the worst offender to the notion of allowing all voices to be heard. Elizabeth May, the leader of Canada's Green Party appears regularly on the CBC's political programmes, even though the party has only one seat (hers) in the House of Commons. (Overheard at an Ottawa restaurant: "May? Party of one?") She will be allowed to participate in the televised Leaders' Debates to be held in October, ahead of the federal election, even though her party has only one plank -- close down Canada's oil industry -- in its platform.
Logic would seem to dictate that Max Bernier would also participate, since the People's Party has a seat -- his -- in the House of Commons. And he has lots to talk about. Not just the environment, the economy, and foreign policy, but also refugees, immigration and "diversity", which the media (Hello, Chantal Hébert! Hello Toronto Star! Hello CBC!) keep telling us are non-issues, of no interest to the Canadian people.If you think "Mad Max" -- who has been described by the (((controlled media))) as a "racist" and (shudder) "populist" (gasp!) -- is going to get a chance to debate those "non-issues" with the other leaders, you are wrong! For the "independent" Leaders' Debate Commission -- like Elections Canada a creature of the Liberal government -- has invited the leaders of five political parties, including the Greens and the Bloc Québecois, to participate in the October debates. But Maxime Bernier, errr, NO!
Why not?! The transparently flimsy excuse the debate organizing group has come up with is that the People's Party has not yet met one of the criteria to participate in the televised debates, namely that the party isn't represented in the House of Commons by an MP who was elected as a member of that party. M Bernier, a former cabinet minister in the government of Steve Harpoon, was re-elected in 2015 as a Conservative, before before leaving the "Conservatives" to start the PPC.
Beyond that, the Commissioner said in a letter to M Bernier, a survey of recent opinion polls, including the CBC News Poll Tracker (!!), led him to conclude that the People's Party would have a difficult time actually getting one of its candidates elected in October's general election. So if the polls already say you're not going to win, why should you speak in the debate? That's the "logic" employed by the Liberals and their media sycophants.
M Bernier told the media that itès not fair to rely on current polling data, given how well populist parties in other Western democracies have fared in recent elections. He said the PPC has an "excellent chance for rapid growth" if Canadians get a chance to hear the party's message.
According to M Bernier, "The PPC represents a unique perspective, and is the only party that offers distinct policy positions on several topics that are at the heart of political debates, including immigration, climate change, freedom of expression, corporate welfare, foreign aid, supply management, and many other topics."
In its report on this story today, the CBC called these "right-wing policy proposals". Perhaps they are afraid that, as M Bernier claims, the PPC's positions on these issues are similar to those of a large minority, or even a majority of Canadians. Said M Bernier, "Canadians have the right to hear views that differ from those of established parties."
From the outrage being voiced on social media, even in the "Comments" section of the CBC's article, it would seem that ordinary Canadians -- those who are not among the elites -- want to hear what "Mad Max" has to say. The Debates Commission is already backing away from the Commissioner's letter, saying that it will give the matter further consideration, and will make a "final decision" on September 16th. Stay tuned.
Further reading: "What's a debate if you don't hear from the opposite side?", by John Ivison (no fan of Max Bernier but a big fan of free speech and fair play), in the National Post, 13/8/19. Quote: "The ruling seems profoundly undemocratic.... Most Canadians, including this one, find many of [the PPC's] policies toxic. But a sizeable minority do not and, as Bernier pointed out, they have a right to hear views that differ from those of more established parties.
And more: "The media blindspot for the People’s Party of Canada", by David Haskell (PPC candidate in Cambridge), in The Post Millennial, 9/8/19.
Further viewing: "The Rebel's May 3rd interview with Maxime Bernier", WWW 11/5/19.
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