MONTREAL – The Green Party of Canada presents its chronology of events in its communications with The Leaders’ Debates Commission and its participation in debate preparations. It invites the media to fact-check the chronology. The following is a breakdown of the events:

  1. At 11:45 am on Tuesday April 15th, the Executive Director Michel Cormier calls Robin Marty, National Campaign Manager of the Greens, asking whether the Green Party withdrew candidates. Mr. Marty responds that the party did not withdraw any candidates.
  2. At 2:36 pm, the Green Party receives an email from Michel Cormier asking “whether the Green Party of Canada did indeed endorse all the candidates on the list submitted to the Commission.” Mr. Cormier’s letter also referenced comments made by Co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault on campaign strategy found in this article: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2156358/outremont-jonathan-pedneault-cochef-parti-vert-candidat
  3. At 3pm, members of the Green Party campaign team visit the CBC/Radio Canada studios in Montreal. The Journal de Montreal reports that that afternoon Radio Canada had been asked if they could manage a 4 podium debate: https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2025/04/16/exclusion-du-parti-vert-radio-canada-a-obtenu-la-confirmation-seulement-mercredi-matin-moins-de-12-heures-avant-le-debat-des-chefs
  4. At 4:22pm,  the Green Party responded in the affirmative that the candidates were indeed endorsed as per the Commission’s rules. 
  5. At 6:18 pm, Michel Cormier sent another email requesting more information with a 42 minute deadline of 7 pm. In this correspondence there were two points. First, Mr. Cormier’s letter provided erroneous information about the number of candidates the Green Party had endorsed on March 31st. The second point was a request for clarification on a reference to “the rules” in a comment the GPC spokesperson made to the Globe and Mail’s Emily Haws: “The rules had always given us some strategic wiggle room, which we are using.”
  6. At approximately 6:50 PM, Robin Marty phones Mr. Cormier asking for clarification on his request for clarification “on the rules” and about Mr. Cormier’s letter’s reference to the following paragraph from the same Globe and Mail article. His request was ambiguous. The paragraph in question is:  “He (the spokesperson) 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.” At this point in the correspondence Mr. Marty felt he was being cornered and he was troubled by Mr. Cormier’s evasive tone over the phone. Mr. Cormier spoke as if Mr. Marty’s concerns were a trifle. For example, admitting that perhaps they did get the number of endorsed candidates wrong. His tone did not seem to correspond to the pointed nature of his requests, his quick succession of emails and deadlines.
  7. At 7:05pm, Mr. Marty responds with his answers by email where he corrected the Commission’s accounting on endorsed candidates and reaffirmed that the Green Party had indeed followed the rules and that at the moment the spokesperson was not readily available to comment on his comments. 
  8. At 9:29pm, the Green Party received from Stephanie Levitz of the Globe and Mail its first question as to whether the Green Party was participating in the debates. The party also received emails from Raymond Filion at TVA, David Cochrane at CBC and over a dozen more emails and phone calls late into the night.
  9. In the early morning hours of Wednesday April 16th, the Green Party received several more emails asking if they were participating in the debates, including a call as to whether they were aware that their podium was removed from the CBC studios.
  10. At 6:50 am on Wednesday, the Green Party received a confirmation from CBC/Radio Canada about its arrival at the debates later that day. 
  11. At 7:21 am the Green Party received an email from Michel Cormier saying that they would NOT participate at the debates. 
  12. Upon receipt of the email, Mr. Marty calls for further clarification but Mr. Cormier quickly hangs-up and does not answer his questions.

The remaining correspondences of April 16th and 17th between the Green Party of Canada and The Leaders’ Debates Commission have all been made public.

The last point the Green Party wants to raise is that The Leaders’ Debates Commission does not have a Commissioner, apparently since David Johnston left the post. Its website states: “The role of Debates Commissioner is being held by the highest-ranking staff member of the Secretariat of the Commission who is authorized, in accordance with OIC 2024-0598, to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Debates Commissioner in case there is a vacancy in that office.” https://www.debates-debats.ca/en/about/commission/

We thus wonder who is making the final decisions, who is ultimately responsible? Is it the Advisory Board? Is it Mr. Cormier? Who should be held accountable? What is the Commission’s appeal mechanism?

Canadians deserve answers. 


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For more information or to arrange an interview : 

Fabrice Lachance Nové

Press secretary

514-463-0021

media@greenparty.ca

Rod Leggett

Senior Advisor, Strategic Communications

613-203-1524

media@greenparty.ca