Leaders’ Debates Commission issues decision on the Green Party of Canada
The Leaders’ Debates Commission has decided to rescind the invitation to the Green Party of Canada to participate in the two leaders’ debates for the 45th general election, for the reasons set out below.
Background
On January 14, 2025, the Commission published the participation criteria for the leaders’ debates for the 45th general election, along with a detailed rationale. In order to be invited by the Commission to participate in the leaders' debates, a leader of a registered political party must meet two of the following criteria:
(i): on the date the general election is called, the party is represented in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament who was elected as a member of that party.
(ii): 28 days before the date of the general election, the party receives a level of national support of at least 4%, determined by voting intention, and as measured by leading national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly-reported results.
(iii): 28 days before the date of the general election, the party has endorsed candidates in at least 90% of federal ridings.
A general election was called on March 23, 2025, with election day on April 28, 2025. On March 24, 2025, the Commission announced that the debates would be held on April 16, 2025 (in French) and April 17, 2025 (in English).
On March 31, 2025, the Green Party of Canada provided the Commission with a list of 343 endorsed candidates.
On April 1, 2025, the Commission issued its decision determining the parties that qualify the three participation criteria, along with its rationale. The Commission determined that the Green Party of Canada met criterion (i) and criterion (iii) because it was represented in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament elected under its banner on the date the general election was called and had endorsed candidates in at least 90% of federal ridings, respectively. On April 1, 2025, the Commission issued an invitation to the leader of the Green Party of Canada to participate in the two leaders’ debates for the 45th general election.
The Commission subsequently became aware that the Green Party of Canada had only 232 candidates confirmed by Elections Canada. Candidate nominations closed at 2:00 p.m. local time on Monday, April 7, 2025, and a final list of confirmed candidates was published by Elections Canada on April 9, 2025. The number of Green Party of Canada candidates confirmed in the 45th general election was significantly lower than the number of candidates on the list of endorsed candidates provided to the Commission on March 31, 2025.
On April 15, 2025, the Commission became aware of public comments made by the leader of the Green Party of Canada stating that the party had made a strategic decision not to run a full slate of candidates in certain ridings, as reported by Radio-Canada:
Avec 232 candidats confirmés sur 343 circonscriptions, selon la liste officielle d’Élections Canada, le Parti vert est représenté dans moins des deux tiers des comtés. Ce chiffre est bien en deçà du nombre de candidats verts qui s’étaient présentés aux élections de 2021 (253). Même le Parti populaire du Canada a plus de candidats confirmés que les verts cette année, avec 247 représentants.
« C’est une décision stratégique, admet Jonathan Pedneault. On a décidé de ne pas envoyer de candidats dans certains comtés, notamment là où les conservateurs ont plus de chances de remporter les élections que nous. »
The Commission sought submissions from the Green Party of Canada on these comments, in particular as to whether the Green Party of Canada did indeed endorse all the candidates on the list submitted to the Commission, when the strategic decision referenced by its leader was made, whether or not it was prior to the submission of the list on March 31, 2025, and whether at the time of the submission, some of these individuals were no longer intending to run.
The Commission received the following submissions from the Green Party of Canada in response:
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to clear up the matter. When we submitted our list to the Commission (on the March 31st deadline) we had indeed endorsed the names of the 340 candidates. At the time, all 340 intended to run. In fact, the last list we sent to Elections Canada on Sunday the 6th of April at 5pm contained 342 names. Mr. Pedneault’s comments refer to developments that occurred later in time.
The Commission had also become aware of further public comments made by a spokesperson of the Green Party of Canada as reported by the Globe and Mail:
When asked about debate participation, Mr. Leggett said the chain of events reflects that they faced obstacles with Elections Canada.
“The rules had always given us some strategic wiggle room, which we are using,” he said in the statement.
He added that there is a “long tradition of certain groups (including certain political parties) in this country who do not want to see the Greens in the debate” but Canadians have always wanted to see them. The Green Party has representation across the country, he said, which is not the case with all parties.
The Commission sought further submissions from the Green Party of Canada as to whether this reference to “the rules” was a reference to the Commission’s participation criteria or Elections Canada’s rules. The Commission received the following submissions in response:
Je n'ai pas réussi à rejoindre M. Leggett et je ne suis pas certain de quelle règle il faisait référence.
Dans tous les cas, les règles de participation au débat fixé par la Commission ont été respectées.
Decision
The Commission’s mandate is to design debates that are “effective, informative, and compelling and benefit from the participation of the leaders who have the greatest likelihood of becoming Prime Minister or whose political parties have the greatest likelihood of winning seats in Parliament.” In fulfilling its mandate, the Commission must be “guided by the pursuit of the public interest and by the principles of independence, impartiality, credibility, democratic citizenship, civic education, inclusion and cost effectiveness.”
The Commission was guided by these principles in setting the participation criteria for the 45th general election, including criterion (iii): “28 days before the date of the general election, the party has endorsed candidates in at least 90% of federal ridings”. As explained by the Commission in its participation criteria decision, this criterion was selected as a simple, clear and objective criterion to measure party viability, as it indicates that the party has the “necessary organizational strength to wage a political campaign and offer voters a viable electoral option nation-wide.”
The Commission stated that this criterion would be satisfied by a list of endorsed candidates submitted no later than 28 days before the general election, acknowledging that, “[g]iven that debates are held well in advance of Election Day, parties are not required to demonstrate that those candidates have been formally nominated with Elections Canada.” Participation must be determined sufficiently in advance to ensure that the debates producer has sufficient time to produce a debate of high quality, and that the political parties can properly prepare for the debates in order to ensure they are informative for Canadians.
However, the Commission concludes that in circumstances in which the Green Party of Canada has intentionally reduced the number of candidates running in the election for strategic reasons, it no longer meets the intention of the participation criteria to justify inclusion in the leaders’ debates. Whether or not the Green Party of Canada intended to run 343 candidates, it has since made the strategic decision to reduce the number of candidates running, meaning that voters no longer have the opportunity to vote for those candidates. Deliberately reducing the number of candidates running for strategic reasons is inconsistent with the Commission’s interpretation of party viability, which criterion (iii) was designed to measure. The Commission concludes that the inclusion of the leader of the Green Party of Canada in these circumstances would undermine the integrity of the debates and the interests of the voting public.
The Commission acknowledges that its decision engages protections for freedom of expression and the right to vote under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This decision engages the freedom of expression of the Green Party of Canada and its leader, as well as the rights of voters to be effectively informed through the debates. However, these rights and values must be balanced against the Commission’s mandate to ensure that debates are effective, informative, and compelling, and benefit from the participation of the leaders who have the greatest likelihood of becoming Prime Minister or whose political parties have the greatest likelihood of winning seats in Parliament, as measured by the participation criteria. Inviting the leader of the Green Party of Canada would not be consistent with the Commission’s mandate and his inclusion would detract from the informativeness and effectiveness of the debates. The Commission concludes that any impact on Charter rights is therefore outweighed based on the Commission’s mandate to act in the public interest.
As the Green Party of Canada does not meet the criteria for inclusion in the leaders’ debates, the Commission has decided to rescind its invitation to the leader of the Green Party of Canada to participate in the leaders’ debates.
