The Elizabeth May Debate Solution

Dave Teixeira

| April 8, 2011

Image by: Wikimedia / Oldmaison

Although she's excluded from the April 12th debate, Elizabeth May can find a bounty of attention by leveraging social media.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May is being excluded from the April 12 leaders' debate, but there's still a way for the party's voice to be heard.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May has been barred from participating in the upcoming leaders’ debate on April 12. Many reasons were given for her exclusion, but the foremost was that she is not an elected member of Parliament. Kermit the Frog was right: it ain't easy being green.

The last leaders’ debate in October 2008 – in which Ms. May participated – drew three million viewers. This means that roughly 21 per cent of the nearly 14 million voters in the 2008 election watched the debate. An audience of this size presents a huge growth opportunity for the Green Party.

But this April 12, Ms. May will be without an audience. What can she do? Her solution is the Internet.

12 Steps to a Green Party Debate Broadcast

1. On debate night, hold a rally on Vancouver Island. Pack the house with supporters.

2. Invite the media; they will show up. National media have news-starved local correspondents all over the country.

3. Show the debate on big screens and film the crowd’s reactions to the other leaders’ debate answers.

4. Write down the moderator’s questions throughout the debate.

5. When the televised debate is over, it’s Ms. May’s time to shine!

6. Flip on a Livestream or Ustream account and get ready to broadcast Ms. May’s 30-minute debate response.

7. Begin with a strong opening statement. Leave ample time for supporters to react with thunderous applause.

8. Have a celebrity moderator (ahem, Rick Mercer) ask Ms. May the debate questions. He was supportive of the Green party’s inclusion in the debate, tweeting on March 30, “Let Elizabeth May in the debate. She’s the vinegar that brightens up the vegetables.” As we all know, tweets are legally binding, so drag Mercer out to the Island.

9. Finish with a closing statement and watch the crowd go wild.

10. After the live stream, put the footage on Youtube and send the link out through social media. Upload the video in high def so that media outlets can broadcast it on their news programs.

11. Create a second Youtube video that splices in comments from Green Party supporters, and footage of the crowd reacting to the other leaders’ and Ms. May’s debate responses.

12. The media will want to talk to Ms. May, and now she can focus on her debate responses as opposed to reminding folks that her party was left out of the debate.

There you have it – Elizabeth May has her say, and the Green Party gains media attention while showing Canadians they find ways to get things done. Quite frankly, that would be more than any federal government has done in the last 20 years.

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Here's a different idea for

Submitted by mikepaduada (not verified) on Sun, 2011-04-10 12:30.

Here's a different idea for handling the debate situation. If the debate organizers continue to exclude Elizabeth May from direct participation, a different media company could host a live shadow debate: a debate that features Elizabeth May, a live feed from the official debates, and a carefully selected shadow co-moderator. This would allow interested Canadians to hear Ms. May respond and provide alternatives to what gets discussed in the "official" debate. Optional shadow panelists could include Paul Martin, Joe Clark, Margaret Atwood and other well-recognized public figures who have suggested that Elizabeth May should be permitted to participate in the leaders' debates. Additional considerations: - If we can quickly generate broad public support for the idea of a shadow debate, it might give the consortium enough grief to change their decision. - Crowdfunding tools, such as Kickstarter or Ulele.com, can be used to cover production costs and attract broad support. - I'm not sure of licensing costs, if any, to be able to use official debate footage in the background. - If there is any objection by the debate consortium about the use of their footage, that would underscore their deep biases in controlling public political discourses. - Elizabeth May might not want to formally commit to a shadow debate if she believes such a move would be seen as acceptance of the consortium's decision. Still, as long as Ms. May is not formally opposed to the shadow debate idea, the effort to get broad public support for the idea would give her a last-minute option to use it. I have emailed this suggestion to Elizabeth May on Friday; I'm waiting for a response. I've also started contacting possible partners and supporters for the shadow debate idea. Broad support for this idea from as many people and organizations is key to making a bold statement of dissatisfaction with the consortium. Because there are only a few days until the debate, I will continue to actively push for this idea by contacting possible partners and supporters. Anyone who is interested in getting involved, feel free to contact me.