Green leader to sue networks on debates

OTTAWA, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May said Monday she would sue a media consortium that barred her from televised debates before the federal election.

"Day 2 of the Canadian election and democracy has taken a nosedive," the Green leader said at an Ottawa news conference.

The television network consortium said three political parties opposed May's presence during the debates and threatened to boycott them if she took part.

"In the interest of Canadians, the consortium has determined that it is better to broadcast the debates with the four major party leaders, rather than not at all," said the consortium of BCE Inc.'s CTV, Canwest Global Communications Corp.'s Global, the publicly funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Quebecor Inc.'s TVA.

May said she did not know how the broadcasters could legitimately bar her when her party was running candidates in all federal ridings but one, had a Parliament member in the House of Commons at dissolution and secured 4.5 percent of the national vote in the 2006 federal election.

The consortium did not specify which three parties -- out of the Conservatives, the New Democratic Party, the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois -- had opposed May's inclusion.

The Bloc Quebecois said Monday night it never threatened to boycott the debate, Canwest News Service reported.

The French- and English-language debates are scheduled to take place in Ottawa Oct. 1 and 2, respectively. The election takes place Oct. 14.