OTTAWA - The Green party has hired a lawyer to pressure the TV networks to include leader Elizabeth May in debates during the coming election campaign.
The move comes as the Conservatives argue May should be kept off the podium, likening her to just another version of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
Since early last year, the Greens have lobbied the consortium of television networks that sets the ground rules for the leaders debates, demanding a place in the debates.
Now that former Liberal MP Blair Wilson has moved to the Greens, the party has a right to be part of the debates, said party spokeswoman Camille Labchuk.
"We do meet criteria that has allowed other parties to be included in the past, so we can't really see how it's possible to exclude us this time," she said.
Getting into the debates would give the Greens the national exposure they need to move away from the realm of "fringe" party.
In the past, the consortium of Canada's largest English and French television networks -- CBC-Radio-Canada, CTV, Global Television and TVA -- has decided which party leaders would participate in the debates. It has also staged draws to determine the speaking order for opening and closing statements, podium positions and other logistical details for each of the federal election debates.
May was excluded from the December 2005 debates prior to the 2006 election because her party had no seats in the House of Commons. It didn't win a seat in the voting.
But Wilson, who had been sitting as an independent MP for West Vancouver after resigning from the Liberal Party under a cloud almost a year ago, may have given the consortium cause to reconsider May's demand for a place at the mike.
Consortium representatives were to have met Tuesday, although it was unclear whether any decisions would be made regarding the lineup for potential debates.
The Conservatives have made it clear that May won't have a voice in the debates if they have any say in the matter.
"You can't have one leader on stage that has already endorsed the candidacy of another and signed an electoral co-operation agreement," said Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas, referring to a deal reached between May and Dion not to run candidates against each other in their respective ridings.
"When it comes to the debate, they can have May or they can have Dion," he said.
"But they can't have both."
No one in the Prime Minister's Office, nor the Conservative party, would speculate on whether Harper would boycott the debates, should the consortium decide to include May.
The Greens argue that Preston Manning was allowed into the 1993 debates after Deborah Grey was elected as the Reform party's lone MP, so they should get the same consideration.
Then-Bloc Quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard was also given a voice in the debates when he and several other Quebec Tory MPs deserted their party to form the Bloc and Gilles Duceppe entered the Commons in a byelection as an independent.
"So (Duceppe) was elected at that point, and Lucien Bouchard was permitted in '93 to enter the leaders debate," said Labchuk.
May was expected to hold a news conference Wednesday in Toronto to announce the name of the lawyer who will represent the party in negotiations with the consortium.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to call a general election later this week for Oct. 14.
