Pubdate: Sat, 05 May 2001 Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Chilliwack Times Contact: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357 Author: Melissa Shaw SMOKING MAD Marijuana Party Protests BCTV Decision To Exclude Them From The Leaders Debate If their goal was to annoy BCTV executives with a protest, the B.C. Marijuana party scored. About 10 Marijuana members from Chilliwack joined another 40 from around the province and rallied outside the television studio in Burnaby Monday night, loudly protesting because their leader, Brian Taylor, was not invited to participate in the televised debate. They said the network's decision showed a disregard for democratic processes, and said insult was added to injury when Chris Delaney, leader of the B.C. Unity Party, was included in the program. Unity had 39 candidates registered with B.C. Elections Monday night, while Marijuana had 50 when the program aired. "This is blatant censorship against the Marijuana Party...and a slap in the face to democracy," Chilliwack-Sumas candidate Norm Siefken said at the protest. "This is a clear, clear example of how discussion has been censored," agreed Jon Fulford, also of Chilliwack. "We have more candidates than the Unity Party; we should be included." BCTV's news director, Steve Wyatt, said he has been asked about the station's decision to run the debate without a Marijuana representative hundreds of times, and was unhappy to leave a meeting to answer more. He said the NDP and Liberals were included for "obvious reasons," the Green Party was included because it has staged successful campaigns in the past and placed third in opinion polls. The decision to include the Unity Party, he said, had less to do with the number of candidates registered than ideology. "We included the Unity Party because it follow a certain line of thinking...at the right end of the political spectrum," he said, stressing that a broad range of opinions in manageable numbers was the station's goal. Monday night's protest began two hours before party leaders arrived at the Burnaby studio. Hundreds of Liberal supporters and about half as many NDP members were also on hand to cheer their leaders on. Those carrying signs that read, "BCTV loves Liberals" and "Support B.C. Marijuana Party," were joined by the "Cannabus"-a tour bus the Marijuana Party has use of for its campaign. An unidentified man inside the bus played the "Batman" theme at a high volume on a loudspeaker atop the vehicle and shouted, "Gordon Campbell, why are you participating in a censored debate?" as the Liberal leader entered the studio. At about at about 7:30 p.m., it was clear that a Marijuana candidate would not be invited into the studio and supporters began heading for their cars. A security guard thanked them for remaining peaceful. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth