Hi folks, An urgent but seemingly arbitrary deadline has come to my attention. We already knew that Mr. Harper has decided not to attend the Consortium debates. However, it has appeared Mr. Mulcair was serious when he indicated he would only show up if Mr. Harper did. This seems strange, as presumably Mr. Mulcair would not follow the leadership style and policy as Mr. Harper. From my understanding of the article I read, Mr. Mulcair claims the only reason to show up to a leadership debate is if the person currently holding the job as Prime Minister was there. Odd, because just proving you are better than the current leader, does not prove you are the best replacement. To my mind, he has not done that yet. However, he has provided a seemingly arbitrary ultimatum of Monday, August 10 for Mr. Harper to change his mind. Presumably Mr. Mulcair is going to want the CBC and the rest of the Consortium to cover his campaign, and thus it would make sense for him to attend two major debates (one in each official language) presented by these major media outlets. It seems odd to snub them. What seems so odd about this ultimatum, is the NDP commitment to restore funding to the CBC, and yet not show up a major CBC (and the rest of the Consortium's) event. http://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-to-restore-cbc-funding As far as I know, it is not yet decided that our debates will be canceled if Mr. Mulcair does not show up, but I believe it would drastically hurt our hope. Nearly four million viewers tuned into the 2011 debates so I don't understand the logic not to attend these ones. http://www.ctvnews.ca/nearly-four-million-tv-viewers-tuned-in-to-debate-1.631126 There is strong support for the debates without Mr. Harper showing up: http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2015/06/the-debate-about-the-debates/ As many Canadians rely on the major broadcasters to be informed of political news and to watch live feeds, we can only hope that Mr. Mulcair will change his mind and support the Consortium debates. Thank you all for your support, and please share this petition with as many as possible, as it would appear time is rapidly running out. - John P.S. The links I provided were used without permission. However, in university we were taught to cite our sources. My knowledge of copyright law verges on nil, so I hope I won't get in trouble for this.