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they have no right to block a candidate from an event that has a direct impact on the democratic outcome of the election.

inclusion of leaders in televised debates specifically should be controlled by a non-partisan government body, such as elections canada in our case.

to use the obvious example, 77% of canadians support the inclusion of the green party leader in the national leadership debates, but the decision will be made not by any democratic body, but by a group of television executives. that's pretty decisively the opposite of what canadians want.

how much of a difference does it actually make? in 1988 the reform party pulled 2.09% of the vote and elected no members. five years later in 1993 preston manning was included in the televised leadership debate which resulted in a jump to 18.69% of canada's vote and the party's first 52 seats in parliament.

obviously, the debate is not the only factor in that jump, but it changed everything for that party to have a national platform to express their ideas outside of their usual base of support.

if we accept that inclusion in televised leaders debates can have a significant impact on voters' decision making, and we accept that the decision as to who's included is left up to a few men in suits who are not accountable to anyone, i think we have to agree that our democracy is less credible until we make changes.