It’s a debate and switch.

In a break from political tradition in Ontario, Premier Kathleen Wynne is calling for the Green party to be allowed to participate in the televised leaders’ debates in the upcoming campaign.

One day after challenging rookie Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford to three broadcast debates before the June 7 election, Wynne upped the ante by saying Ontario’s fourth party should be included.

The broadcast consortium of CBC, CTV, Global, TVO, CPAC, and CHCH has so far scheduled one debate — on Sunday, May 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the CBC Broadcasting Centre.

But only Wynne, Ford, and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are invited because it “is open to all party leaders running candidates in all Ontario ridings that currently have an elected MPP sitting in the provincial legislature.”

The premier noted that she had participated in Wednesday’s Black community debate with Horwath and Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

“That was an important discussion, but Doug Ford was not there,” said Wynne in a salvo at the PC chief who was campaigning in Sudbury while the other leaders debated in North York.

“It’s really important for people in this province to have the opportunity to hear from all of the leaders. Andrea Horwath was there. Mike Schreiner was there from the Green party,” she said.

“I’m happy at any time to have Mike Schreiner as part of the debates. But Doug Ford needs to be there because his position, as I said last night, many of the things that we talked about are things that essentially he doesn’t agree with.”

In a statement, Schreiner praised Wynne’s intervention.

“I want to thank Premier Wynne for agreeing that citizens deserve to hear from all four major party leaders in the debates,” he said.

Like the Liberals, New Democrats, and Tories, the Greens qualify for a per-vote subsidy even though the party has never had a seat at Queen’s Park.

Schreiner’s party said the “the arbitrary rules for determining who’s in and who’s out of the televised debates are threatening to lock the Greens out once again.”

“An undefined media consortium, likely in consultation with the status quo parties at Queen’s Park, makes the decision in an undemocratic process behind closed doors,” the Greens said.

Democracy activist Dave Meslin said while there are 21 registered political parties in Ontario, only four received enough votes in the 2014 election to qualify for the public subsidy.

“We’re calling for a fair and simple rule: That the leader of any political party that receives annual taxpayer funding should be included in the televised debates. Today, we’re thrilled to have Premier Wynne join our call,” said Meslin.

More than 9,000 people have signed a non-partisan petition at FairDebates.ca to include the leaders of publicly funded parties in the debates.

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As part of political fundraising reforms sparked by a Star series, parties annually receive $2.71 per vote cast for them in the most recent provincial election.

The Liberals, with 1,863,974 votes that year, get $5.06 million; the Conservatives, with 1,508,811 votes, get $4.09 million; the NDP, with 1,144,822 votes, get $3.1 million; and the Greens, with 232,536 votes, get $630,000.

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