In this vast country, horribly scarred by the oil sands of northern Alberta, it seems perverse to me that Elizabeth May, the Leader of Canada’s Green party, should be excluded from the television debates.

Controversy about the oil (or tar) sands bubbles to the surface every now and again. Yet, surprisingly, I sense that most Canadians feel disengaged.

Perhaps because it is happening way up there, up north, it is not worth thinking about.

Until, that is, some terrible disaster happens.

The Green party has the support of about 10% of Canadians but, thanks to first-past-the-post, it has no representation in the Canadian House of Commons.

For the networks who set up the TV debates that seems to be the clincher.

That’s unfortunate. Because the Greens talk about things lots of Canadians prefer to ignore.

Maybe Elections Canada needs to get involved rather than simply leaving it to the broadcasters.

Andrew Stephenson and free school meals

Pendle’s Conservative MP, Andrew Stephenson, wants to know what is being done to identify and support children who qualify for free school meals.

Top marks for taking an interest in such matters.

However, we now discover from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that these very same young people on free school meals could be worse off to the tune of £370 a year under the scheme which replaces the Educational Maintenance Allowance.

On 28 March, Stephenson told MPs:

When I was last speaking to a group of students at Nelson and Colne college, many of them said that it was far better to have discretionary support provided by the college for transport and for course-related costs, rather than a cash payment.

Step forward those many trusting students and take a bow!

Much turns on the discretionary bursary scheme and how it will operate. This is now the subject of an 8 week consultation.

When the details of the replacement EMA finally emerge, we shall see how many students at Nelson and Colne College are still cheering.