Court TV

Imagine it’s time for another general election (I understand that it’s a painful notion). The CBC has made arrangements for a leadership debate to be broadcast across Canada, a coast to coast opportunity for the political leaders to hawk their wares to the Canadian electorate on prime time television. At a secret location beforehand, CBC executives enter negotiations with the Liberals, NDP, and Conservatives. They hammer out a deal regarding the time and format of the debate and they also come to an agreement to exclude The Bloc Quebecois. In Quebec, presenters on Télévision de Radio-Canada tell their viewers that the Bloc shouldn’t be included in the debates because they are not standing candidates outside of their own province. The news reports portray the Bloc as irrelevant in the election, and justify their exclusion from the debate because Duceppe could never become Prime Minister. The people in Quebec, Anglophone and Francophone alike, take exception to the anti-democratic nature of the debate and inundate the CBC with complaints. The CBC respond by shutting down their political blog, the topic is banned from discussion on the radio phone-in, and certain presenters take the opportunity to berate The Bloc for getting “uppity”. What would the result be? Would there be honourable resignations from the CBC, protests on the streets of Montreal? Would the federalist cause be fatally wounded?

On May 6th there will be a general election in the United Kingdom. For the first time in British history, The BBC have arranged a leadership debate to be broadcast across the four diverse nations that meet together in the Westminster parliament. The BBC, in negotiations with the three main London based unionist parties (Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Conservative) have decided to exclude The Scottish National Party (SNP) from the debate. The SNP are the Government of Scotland, and the largest party in The Scottish Parliament. They also believe in the controversial concept of independence for Scotland. The idea of Scotland withdrawing from the United Kingdom and becoming an independent nation within the European Union is vehemently opposed by the British establishment, and the fifth estate.

Many people in Scotland see the exclusion of the SNP as an affront to democracy. They see it as a “stitch-up” by the establishment in order to stifle debate and minimalize the SNP’s chance of success at the election. Last Sunday the SNP launched an online appeal in order to raise the £ 50 000 (75 000 $CDN) required to take for legal action against BBC in the Scottish courts in order to compel the broadcaster to include the SNP in this Thursday’s debate. The appeal was a rapid success. In thirty-one hours, hundreds of ordinary people across Scotland and England donated to the cause regardless of their political persuasion.

Martin Bell, a BBC employee of thirty-five years, and former MP in England said,

"I believe the election leaders' debates have been a great innovation, and are helping voters engage in the democratic process. But at the same time, the exclusion of the SNP and Plaid Cymru has been profoundly unfair to those parties - especially given the way the TV debates are so clearly dominating all media coverage of the election. And I believe that in future a better balance will have to be found to make sure that these parties are included and not squeezed out, as they have been in this campaign. I support the action being taken by the SNP in relation to the party's proposed legal challenge, as the issue is one of such fundamental democratic importance."

The legal challenge was launched on Tuesday morning at The Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy Leader of the SNP said,

“We’re not trying to stop the BBC debate; we want it to go ahead as planned and to be broadcast across the whole of the UK, including Scotland. But that must be on the basis that it is fair and democratic and includes all the main political parties in Scotland. That is why, legal jargon aside, our case is so simple and so straightforward. It is simply unfair and undemocratic not to be allowed to participate.”

Unsurprisingly the unionist parties are against SNP participation.

Labour's Lord Foulkes said:

"Basically the whole thing is a publicity stunt for the SNP."

David McLetchie, the Scottish Tory election campaign manager, also hit out and said,

"This is the most expensive stunt of the General Election campaign so far."

Publicity stunt or fundamental abuse of democracy, what is clear is that the BBC has failed to adapt to the changing political reality of The United Kingdom, and they have damaged the credibility of public service broadcasting in Scotland. Perhaps it is time they looked across the water to Canada for an example of how to deal with political coverage in these changing times. I’m sure that there are plenty of people in places like Saskatoon or Red Deer who don’t have much time for Mr. Duceppe’s vision for Canada. Would they go so far as to deny him the opportunity to have his say?