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‘Fringe’ party debate scheduled for April 23 in Toronto

A leader's debate of Canada's 'fringe' parties, dubbed as the "Other Parties Discussion," will take place on April 23 at York University in Toronto.

A National Post article states the forum will include representatives from the Marijuana Party, Communist Party, Libertarian Party and several others.

In total, Canada has 19 federal political parties registered with Elections Canada. In addition to parties mentioned above, other lesser known parties include the Pirate Party, Western Block Party and First Peoples National Party of Canada.

The Pirate Party's mission is to liberalize Canadian copyright laws and patent system. The party's website states it has 2,000 members, and 12 candidates committed to running in the election.

The Western Block Party is Canada's 'Left Coast' separatist party. The party's leader, lawyer Doug Christie, told Yahoo! Canada News, that B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba would, as an independent nation, have more control over their resources. It plans to run five candidates.

The First Peoples National Party of Canada's mission is to educate other Canadians about Canada's First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. It ran six candidates in 2008 and is still seeking candidates for this campaign.

While all three parties have no delusions of winning any seats in the upcoming May 2 vote, they each have a message to share and that's why, they say, they will partake in the fringe party debate. The Green party, ironically, has decided not to attend.

"We are not one of the small, fringe parties," said a Green party spokesman. "They got about one per cent of the vote all combined. We do not group ourselves in with them."