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Annamie Paul has announced her departure as leader of the Green Party of Canada, calling the experience of being at the helm of the party the worst one of her life.
Ms. Paul’s exit comes after a challenging election for the Greens. She placed fourth in the Toronto Centre riding she ran in and, nationally, the party saw their share of the popular vote fall from 6.55 per cent in 2019 to 2.3 per cent.
Although they won a seat in Ontario – Mike Morrice was the victor in Kitchener Centre – they lost the Vancouver Island riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, one of two seats they held at dissolution.
Ms. Paul said she was not up to trying to keep her leadership role by securing at least 60 per cent support in a leadership review to be held within six months.
“I just don’t have the heart for it,” she said, citing conflict within the party – particularly with the federal council that governs it.
She noted that there were insufficient resources to compete in the campaign, including the absence of a national campaign manager, and that she realized the campaign would be a challenge.
Ms. Paul said she knew the Greens would likely not do well, and she would take the blame, but she decided to proceed because of candidates who had committed to run for the party, and the need to show that “someone like me could get as far as I could.” She is the first Jewish woman and Black person elected leader of a federal party.
“When I was elected, put in this role, I was breaking a glass ceiling. What I didn’t realize at the time is I was breaking a glass ceiling that was going to fall on my head and leave a lot of shards of glass that I was going to have to crawl over throughout my time as leader,” she said.
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“For those Green Party members who have taken great pleasure in attacking me and calling for assaults against me and calling for organization against me and suggesting I am part of a conspiracy against the party, you may take small comfort but please know there are many more people like me than you and you will not succeed in the end.”
Without elaborating, Ms. Paul warned members of a continuing struggle for the soul of the party.
And she said she would look for other ways to serve and pursue her interest in public policy, “This was always about service and I have been outside of politics for most of my life so I know there are other ways to serve.”
Overall, she said, “It has been the worst period of my life in many respects.”
She then left without taking media questions.
Ms. Paul, a lawyer, was elected Green Party leader in October, 2020, succeeding interim leader Jo-Ann Roberts and Elizabeth May, the party’s leader from 2006 to 2019.
Fundraising challenges meant that while other party leaders travelled widely in Canada in search of votes, Ms. Paul rarely left Toronto Centre.
The limited campaign effort followed months of conflict between Ms. Paul and members of the party’s governing federal council, which sought at times to oust her.
Also, the Greens only nominated candidates in 252 ridings, not all 338.
Before the election, the Greens lost their only seat outside British Columbia. Jenica Atwin, who won the riding of Fredericton in 2019, defected to the Liberals in June. She held on to the seat in last week’s election.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
THE TWO MICHAELS
WHAT NEXT? -The emotional return of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor to home soil after nearly three years of arbitrary detention was warmly embraced by Canadians this weekend, but their ordeal will have long-lasting implications on this country’s relationship with China.
CHINA’S CLAIMS ON THE RETURN OF THE TWO MICHAELS - Two Canadians detained in late 2019 who were allowed to return to Canada in a prisoner swap were released on bail for health reasons, China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.
HUAWEI AND 5G - A long-delayed decision facing the federal government about whether to ban Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. from the build-out of Canada’s 5G wireless networks is back in the spotlight after the return of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
CHINESE STATE MEDIA ON CANADA-CHINA RELATIONSHIP - The release of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is an opportunity for a reboot of bilateral relations with the United States and Canada but “toxic political rhetoric” could still “poison” the atmosphere,” Chinese state media said on Monday.
MICHAEL KOVRIG, IN HIS OWN WORDS - “I’m running on about two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours so I don’t have any exciting plans just yet,” Michael Kovrig, speaking, on Sunday to Global News’ The West Block in a brief interview available here.
MEANWHILE
KENNEY SPEAKS OUT - Premier Jason Kenney rejected calls for a “hard lockdown” during an appearance on a radio program Sunday, the same day his province’s former top doctor signed a letter calling for immediate “fire break” measures to deal with surging cases of COVID-19.
THE NEXT LIBERAL LEADER? - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s job as Liberal Party leader seems secure, but The National Post is ranking possible successors in case Mr. Trudeau exits. Ranking begins here.
NEW JOB FOR BAINS - CIBC has hired former Liberal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains as vice-chair, global investment banking. Mr. Bains stepped down as innovation minister in January and did not run in the recent federal election. Story here.
THE CASE FOR A FEMALE DEFENCE MINISTER - Canada’s only female defence minister was in 1993. Is it time for another? The Canadian Press assesses the issue here.
KEEP O’TOOLE AS TORY LEADER: BRAD WALL - “I don’t think the Conservatives should be changing their leader right now, but they really need to reach out and say, `We had a strong platform from Western Canada’ and maybe they ought to stop trying to win in Quebec because it just ain’t happening no matter what they do. That embarrassing bow to Bill 21 or endorsements from [Quebec Premie Fran？ois] Legault didn’t help. Maybe it’s time to fashion a new strategy.” - Mr. Wall, the former Saskatchewan premier, on The Roy Green show - available here - over the weekend. Mr. Wall also talks about country music singer Colter Wall - his son.
THE MODERATOR OF THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LEADERS’ DEBATE SPEAKS OUT ON `THE QUESTION.’
Shachi Kurl (president of the Angus Reid Institute, and moderator of the 2021 English-language leaders’ debate) on the debate question, during the leaders’ debate, that caused a storm in Quebec: “So here was the question: “You deny that Quebec has problems with racism. Yet you defend legislation such as Bills 96 and 21, which marginalize religious minorities, anglophones, and allophones. For those outside the province, please help them understand why your party also supports these discriminatory laws.” To those asking me to take it all back: I stand by the question. Unequivocally. I stand by it because the question gave Mr. Blanchet the opportunity to talk to people outside Quebec, about secularism, about la？cité. He could have shared the Quebec perspective with the rest of Canada. He chose not to.”
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
“Private meetings,” according to an advisory from the Prime Minister’s Office.
LEADERS
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves Fran？ois Blanchet addresses members of caucus during a meeting in Shawinigan, and takes media questions.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul, in Toronto, announced her resignation as leader of the party, but did not take media questions.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
OPINION
The Editorial Board of The Globe and Mail on the Conservative need for big-city seats: “Canada is mostly urban and suburban, and becoming more so every day. In fact, the map of Parliament will be redrawn over the next couple of years, in light of the 2021 census. Since the last census, Metro Vancouver gained more than 400,000 people. Calgary gained more than 300,000, Ottawa a quarter-million, Montreal more than half a million, and the GTA roughly one million people. All those places will be getting more seats before the next election. That’s the Conservative Party’s future.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the hard lesson of the the situation with the two Michaels: “Politically and economically, a lot of damage has been done to Canada-China relations. Now there will be a rush to try to undo that damage, particularly in the business community. But not so fast. There remains an unavoidable need to work with China in some areas, but Beijing’s long-standing call of “win-win” relations has to be distrusted more now, because when push comes to shove, China reserves the right to decide what is a win for each party. We know that because push did come to shove.”
Ann Dickie, Sanjay Ruparelia (Policy Options) on the need for additional research into why the expansion of special voting arrangements didn’t stop a worrisome decline in turnout in recent provincial elections: “Many democracies have confronted a key challenge since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020: how to balance public safety and electoral participation. However, many of the changes introduced to meet this imperative were already in existence, at least in part, before the pandemic arrived, and their ramifications will extend beyond our current election cycle. As the world becomes more digitally oriented, electoral modernization via special voting arrangements (SVAs) – from early and postal voting to proxy voting – is vital for all countries and constituencies seeking to combat apathy, disaffection and exclusion.”
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