Public Media or Media Oligarchy; that is the question in the 2018 Ontario General Election! Or any other elections for that matter!

Elections are about the people and not the mainstream Parties and that the electorate should be exposed to choices available to them.

Another déjà vu, another election, another round of exclusion of Independents and fledgling party candidates from the debates by media and other organizers; what an oxymoron! On one hand, the media considers itself to be a crusader for democracy, to inform citizens, and to keep government accountable. On the other hand, their executives decide on the destiny of the constituents by preventing legally registered candidates from participating in the debates, where only four or five candidates from the mainstream Parties participate. So much for the process of electoral democracy!

This irresponsible practice of limiting the choices available to the electorate by debate organizers implies that the voters are not intelligent enough to make their own choices. Just a handful of individuals decide which candidates are worthy of exposure; the last thing the public needs in these troubled times is to have a bunch of bureaucrats acting like God!

When it comes to politics in Ontario, nice guys finish last, especially in local candidates debates. In the last couple of weeks, our candidates in Ottawa-Centre, Etobicoke-Centre, Beaches-East York, Etobicoke-Centre and Brantford-Brant have not received any invitation or notification to partake in the local candidates’ debates. We have tried to contact organizers and have received no replies. Furthermore, when our candidates showed up at their local debates, they were refused entry by the organizers, because only Liberal, Conservative, NDP, and Green candidates were invited. The only exception has been when our Ottawa-Centre candidate was invited by Rogers and then his invitation was rescinded because, as they say, “...you have made public statements and espoused views that are entirely inconsistent with the values of Rogers TV.”

We are not the only victims of this systemic and vicious conspiracy. Other small parties and independent candidates who campaign in other electoral districts have had similar experiences. Many of these disenfranchised candidates have fresh perspectives and are ready and willing to work hard, yet they are being deprived of very little window of opportunity to introduce themselves, expose their visions, abilities, and genuine commitment, and make a connection with their constituents. .

There have been attempts by private citizens and even some candidates to facilitate local debates where all the candidates were invited. Unfortunately, except for just a few, candidates from THE GANG OF THREE refused to take part. It is very clear that they are instructed by their parties not to engage with small parties’ candidates and independents, at least not in public.

Constituents are kept in dark, not knowing what choices are available to them. Ontarians can go to any supermarket and find over two dozen brands of cereals to choose from, and yet when it comes to our citizens’ daily life and their destiny, voters are being deprived by the few choices forced upon them. Excluding legally registered candidates by a few nefarious individuals implies that all other candidates but those from THE GANG OF THREE and the Green party are inferior, have no capacity or qualification to get elected, and should be treated as second class citizens.

Of course there are a few noisy and disruptive and unsavory characters who put their names on the ballot, who are being used as an excuse by the organizers to justify their unjust actions. However, this doesn’t mean that all those candidates who are nominated by the mainstream parties are qualified, thoughtful, and flawless individuals. The difference is that they cannot be spotted as easily as small parties’ candidates since 124 of them in Ontario stand together in the same spot, under one tent.

Personalities of those crazy individuals from the big parties are only known when a party forms a government and important portfolios are assigned to some of their unfit individuals, where their policies impact 100s of thousands, even millions in Ontario; it is too late by then!

We have the Westminster Parliamentary System here in Canada, under which every region elects one person to represent them and their Electoral District in the legislature; voters are supposed to vote for a person, not a Party. The democratic process has been high jacked by the main stream Parties since the mid 70s, when it was decided to include parties’ names on the ballots under the Election Act. In recent decades, it has been apparent that organizers of candidate’s debates are shills of THE GANG OF THREE, and their modus operandi is identical in all regions.

Candidates from small parties and independents do not have access to the unlimited resources available to the mainstream parties, and have enough challenge to deal with and yet they have to get around cheeky local politics of self-serving organizers to get their voice out. The real concern is why Elections Ontario, the sitting government, and the CRTC have been and stay quiet and don’t do anything to rectify this unfair practice of injustice to the electorate. Why isn’t there a process to deal with these violators of voting process and democracy under the Election Act?

Canadians' Choice Party is a constituency-based political party registered with Elections Ontario.

Bahman Yazdanfar
Toronto, Ontario M4J 1L8 (CANADA)

This release was published on openPR.