FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2011
Saleh Waziruddin
905 394 0029
saleh@votecommunist.ca
St. Catharines Communist Candidate Wins Support of all Parties in Protesting Exclusion from Chamber of Commerce Debate as an Arbitrary and Unreasonable Violation of Charter Rights
St. Catharines, ON – Saleh Waziruddin, the Communist Party candidate for the St. Catharines riding in the provincial election, is protesting his exclusion from the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce candidate debate at 6:30 pm Thursday, September 15, at the Holiday Inn at 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines. Saleh has received support from all the candidates in the riding, including incumbent MPP Jim Bradley and PC candidate Sandie Bellows, in demanding that all candidates be included. The Chambers of Commerce in the other three Niagara ridings have included all candidates, including independents, and the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce included all candidates (including the Communist Party) in the 2008 federal election after facing protest at the 2007 provincial election, and in the recent federal election included all candidates in the Welland riding debate but not the St. Catharines riding debate.
“If the Chamber can invite all candidates in Welland, why should the St. Catharines voters be deprived of the opportunity to make up their own minds and hear from all candidates tonight?” Saleh pointed out. Saleh adds “The Figueroa vs Canada Supreme Court case is a landmark ruling that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms not only gives every citizen the right to vote, but also the right to participate equally in a meaningful way. The Chamber should respect my Charter Rights and the voters. By holding a public debate the Chamber is responsible to the entire community and not just a narrow section.”
The St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce has claimed that its exclusion policy is based on the vote rebate policy of the Elections Act. However, this policy is being challenged as a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and further the Elections Act has another discriminatory clause about rebating elections expenses only for candidates winning 10% of the vote, which excludes one third of all of the Liberal candidates (92) in the previous federal election.
“The Chamber has arbitrarily picked a standard to exclude parties it does not like” explained Saleh. In 2007 the explanation given by Chamber CEO Walter Sendzik to the St. Catharines Standard for why the Green Party was included after being excluded before was that “Well they are mainline now. They have vastly improved their platforms and policy ideas…." Saleh counters with “let’s let the voters decide for themselves on the different policy ideas.”
Sendzik had also said that the Communist Party was not being discriminated against and that “the fringe parties need to contact us as soon as they can after the writ is dropped”. However the Communist Party contacted the Chamber on August 25th, well before the writ was dropped, belying this explanation.
A further illustration of the Chamber’s undemocratic practices is that in the previous federal election debate the program was ended before schedule on account of having no remaining questions, whereas USW 1005 members who are locked out of Stelco and reside in St. Catharines had submitted questions that were unasked. NDP Candidate Mike Williams denounced the Chamber for not having the courage to allow the candidates to answer the concerns of working-class voters.
Green Party candidate Jennifer Mooradian told the Chamber “Voters cannot make an informed decision if we fail to provide complete information. Failing to include all candidates in local debates serves to further erode our democracy and works to support our current electoral system. This system is one unable to fully represent the views of all Canadians. Voter apathy can be largely attributed to the failure of the Canadian electoral system to provide a true voice for all Canadians. It is disheartening to see this lack of representation replicated at the local level.”
In Figueroa vs Canada, filed by the Communist Party’s leader Miguel Figueroa, the Supreme Court decided that:
- “Section 3 (Charter of Rights and Freedoms) should be understood with reference to the right of each citizen to play a meaningful role in the electoral process, rather than the election of a particular form of government.
- “All political parties are capable of introducing unique interests and concerns into the political discourse and marginal or regional parties tend to raise issues not adopted by national parties. Political parties provide individual citizens with an opportunity to express an opinion on the policy and functioning of government. Each vote in support of a party increases the likelihood that its platform will be taken into account by those who implement policy and votes for parties with fewer than 50 candidates are an integral component of a vital and dynamic democracy.
- “…the right to vote in accordance with preferences requires each citizen to have information to assess party platforms and the legislation undermines the right to information protected by s. 3.”
All of the provincial candidates in St. Catharines agreed after Tuesday’s TVCogeco all-candidates debate to demand that the Chamber too include all candidates.
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Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)
