Can Democracy and Censorship co-exist?

Censorship comes in many forms, and usually when it is included in a discussion about democracy it mean Government censorship and the control of information.  In this case, I am not talking about Government control of the media, but rather about media censorship/control of the information Canadians have in this, their 41st general election.

Here is the letter that I wrote to the media consortium this morning.  I encourage everyone to do the same.  The media will continue to control our democracy unless the people demand to take back that control.

[To the members of the consortium]
[cc: Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe, Elizabeth May]
 
I am watching the news that the consortium will not invite Elizabeth May to the televised leaders debates with great sadness and disappointment.  My sadness is for the state of our democracy, and my disappoinment is that we live in a democracy where the media is allowed to control the political message that is available to the people through editorial choices and censorship of voices which have popular support.
 
Watching the recent news from the Arab world, you will see thousands of people risking their lives to gain democratic freedom and the right to vote.  These people are fighting dictatorships which control their citizens first through censorship and access to information, which support an environment where intimidation and physical threats go unreported and thus become the norm.
 
News reports indicate that the television consortium has based their decision on inviting only those parties which have a seat in the House of Commons to the debate table.  I believe this to be a false criteria.
 
On Saturday March 26, Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with the Governor General to ask that the 40th Parliament be dissolved and an election called, so that a government which had a mandate from the people could be elected.  The people will select representatives for the 41st Parliament.
 
To be clear, this election is about the future, not the past.  It is about hearing from the leaders of parties which are offering a vision for our national future, and which are viable electoral choices for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.  With all due respect to Mr. Deceppe, only the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the NDP and the Green Party have widespread support of voters across the entire nation and offer a viable platform to all Canadian voters.
 
Voters across Canada reacted with outrage and indignation when the Green Party was excluded in 2008.  So much so that the consortium reversed it’s decision and the Green Party was able to participate in the debates.  Following this there were widespread media reports praising Elizabeth May’s performance and the Green Party went on to gain the support of almost 1 million Canadian voters.  I sincerely hope and suspect that voters across the nation will rise up again to demand that the Green Party be included.
 
I implore the consortium to carefully consider this decision, and to give Canadian voters access to the full spectrum of information about the choices in front of them.  This is a freedom to which many of the people of the Arab world are denied.  The people of those countries are risking their lives to move toward democracy, and holding Canada up as an ideal toward which to strive.  We should not be simultaneously moving toward their experience.
 
Equally, I implore the leaders of the other parties, Mr Harper, Mr Ignatieff, Mr Layton and Mr Duceppe, to show that they respect our democratic system and Canadian voters by encouraging more participation and choice in our electoral process, not less.
 
This election is about the future.  And in order to formulate that future Canadians are better served by having wider varieties of opinion from which to choose.
 
Regards,
Glenn Hubbers, P.Eng.
Aurora, Ontario, Canada

You can help by writing a similar letter, joining Facebook Groups, commenting on blogs, Tweeting, writhing letters to the editor, and getting out of your chair to demand democracy.   Email addresses for the media consortium and other party leaders can be found here.

Please don’t sit on your hands on this.  Stand up and be heard.  Our democracy is depending on you.