Toronto lawyer Annamie Paul has been elected as the new federal Green Party leader in Canada in the first election in 14 years. While Paul replaces Jo-Ann Roberts, who served as interim leader for 11 months, she essentially replaces Elizabeth May as the party leader. May will continue to serve as parliamentary leader.
The race had 8 candidates but came down to Paul, considered to be relatively moderate, and Dimitri Lascaris, who was in more of the "eco-socialist" category. Paul won in the 8th round with 12,090 votes versus 10,081 votes for Lascaris. Green Party officials said there were 23,877 votes cast, a 69 percent turnout.
Paul, who is Black and Jewish, is the first Black permanent leader of a major federal party. She is only the second Jewish person in that role; former NDP leader David Lewis also had that role.
When we started this campaign, we set out to make the @CanadianGreens the most diverse, democratic and daring force in Canadian politics. We also set out to make history.
— Annamie Paul (@AnnamiePaul) October 4, 2020
Because of you, we succeeded on all counts.
From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! #cdnpoli
"The other parties are simply out of ideas. They are intellectually exhausted. This is a moment that demands daring, courageous leadership and this is something that we simply didn't see in the last speech from the throne," she said. "I only heard empty words."
Her acceptance speech was truly bilingual. She has a level of French where Conservative anglophone politicians would be envious.
Paul previously worked as an advisor at the International Criminal Court and founded 2 social non-profit companies.
The other Green Party candidates were Lascaris (Quebec); David Merner (British Columbia); Amita Kuttner (British Columbia); Glen Murray (Manitoba); Meryam Haddad (Quebec); Andrew West (Ontario); and Dr. Courtney Howard (Northwest Territories). None of the 8 candidates have a seat in Ottawa.
Paul, Merner, Kuttner, and Haddad ran for the Greens in the 2019 federal election. Murray served as a former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister and mayor of Winnipeg.
Paul is running for the Greens in the October 26 Toronto Centre by-election. That riding came open with former Finance Minister Bill Morneau left politics. Paul ran in that riding for the 2019 federal elction.
"I was born in Toronto Centre, my mother taught in the schools in Toronto Centre, my grandmother worked as a frontline service worker in the hospitals of Toronto Centre and broke her back doing it in the process. I will not abandon the residents of Toronto Centre to a Liberal party that has neglected that constituency, that riding for the last 27 years," Paul said.
Normally, candidates running for a party leadership race need to get permission to also run in a federal election. The party didn't provide any financial or logistical support for her by-election race until the leadership race was done.
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The Green Party stayed at their 3 seats in the recent New Brunswick election. The party held the balance of power in the British Columbia government until the recent call for the October 24 election. Federally, the party has 3 seats in Parliament in Ottawa.
Jagmeet Singh was the NDP leader without being a MP from October 2017 until March 2019 when Singh won a by-election in Burnaby South. While Paul expressed a preference for Toronto Centre, she might have to run in a different riding to become a MP.
Anyone replacing Elizabeth May, especially with May remaining as parliamentary leader, will have a tough act to follow and will have to make a distinct mark as the new federal Green Party leader. Despite the drumbeat from the Canadian press on having a federal election soon, Paul will have some time to establish the direction for the party in the future before an election.
photo credit: CBC News
Twitter capture: @AnnamiePaul
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