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The debate organizers did give Bernier until Sept. 9 to provide further evidence for why he should be included, and a deadline of Friday for the list of ridings where he thought his candidates would perform best.

But Bernier said in the letter that because his young party doesn’t yet know how their support is concentrated in each riding, and doesn’t have the money for polling to do so, they cannot determine what seats they have the best chance of winning.

And at a national convention of his party held in Gatineau, Que., last weekend, Bernier told reporters, in French, “As I have always said, we are a political party that does not poll.”

In his letter, Bernier also argued the chance of PPC candidates winning would change substantially during the campaign, because of a “high level of volatility and disaffection of the electorate, and the fact that populist parties similar to the PPC have experienced very rapid growth in other western countries.”

So instead of providing a list of candidates with the best chance of winning, the PPC flagged five candidates that they said are better known in their ridings and would thus have an advantage going in to the campaign.

First on the list was Bernier himself, who currently holds the Quebec riding of Beauce.

Two former Conservative MPs were also listed: Steven Fletcher in a Winnipeg-area riding and Corneliu Chisu in Pickering-Uxbridge. Mark King, a city councillor in North Bay, Ont., is running for the PPC in Nipissing-Timiskaming and was also listed by the party.