The Leaders' Debate Commission says it has rescinded its invitation to the Green Party to participate in the two federal leaders' debates.
The decision comes just hours before the French language debate is scheduled to take place in Montreal and one day before the English debate.
The commission says because the party intentionally reduced its number of candidates running in the federal election, it ``no longer meets the intention of the participation criteria.''
In order to participate in the debates, parties must meet two of three conditions.
They must have had one seat in the House of Commons, have at least four per cent national support 28 days before the election, or have endorsed candidates in at least 90 per cent of ridings 28 days before the election.
By the deadline set by the debate commission, the Green Party was polling at less than three per cent, and while it included a full list of candidate endorsements by the deadline, the party only has 232 candidates running.