Elizabeth May Is Dismayed

Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May and her Green Party were dealt a severe blow by Federal Court judge Marc Nadon yesterday, as he refused to make an emergency ruling on May's complaint of being shut out of the televised electoral debates next week.

Nadon agreed with the Television Consortium's argument that due to the short amount of time to the scheduled debates that a decision could not be made so quickly while still providing due diligence in examining both parties arguments.

This could be a death strike to May's attempt at getting elected this year, as her inclusion in the debates in 2008 gave her party a significant boost in recognition and popularity, but thus far this year has struggled to maintain as much media attention.

May says she is still not counting herself out, as she and her lawyer Peter Rosenthal are currently examining any other potential legal avenues to force the courts to hear the case immediately.

Although the courts will likely not make a decision until it is too late for this election, it is likely that they will side with at least some of the Green Party's arguments, and perhaps force the Media Consortium to establish firm and set criteria for who should be included in the debates in the future.

In the mean time, May continues to campaign hard in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, rather than focusing on a cross country tour as the party leader like she did in the last election. She hopes to unseat Conservative Incumbent Gary Lunn.