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.