Leading the Green Party of Canada could soon be two-person. Four of the six aspiring leaders whose candidacy the party has accepted are running as a duo, in a formula that will be explained during their official presentation on Saturday.
One of the candidate pairs includes British Columbia MP and former party leader Elizabeth May. The veteran of the smallest party represented in the House of Commons is running jointly with Jonathan Pedneault, a 32-year-old Quebecer whose career has passed through the humanitarian organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“Elizabeth and I are two very complementary personalities, in many ways. She represents the stability of the party, and I represent its growth, ”explained Jonathan Pedneault to the To have to. He already sees himself debating the environment with the favorite of the other leadership race, that of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre.
The other partnership in the race is formed by Montrealer and former Concordia University student leader Chad Walcott, with Anna Keenan, an activist farmer from Australia and green candidate from Prince Edward Island. Mr. Walcott described to the To have to their joint candidacy as “joining socialist and pragmatic values”, and ready to espouse causes associated with the political left.
The other two candidates are running alone: the civil servant and Green candidate in the Quebec riding of Hull-Aylmer, Simon Gnocchini-Messier, as well as the Ontario writer Sarah Gabrielle Baron, who was an independent candidate in the last federal election.
Recover from internal crisis
The Green Party of Canada (PVC) went through a major internal crisis shortly before, and during, the last election campaign of 2021. Having suffered the defection of a member of Parliament and criticized by its Quebec wing, former leader Annamie Paul made headlines in particular for having spent the entire campaign in her own riding, where she finally came in fourth.
The Toronto lawyer then slammed the door of the party, with which she was in dispute in court, calling her time in politics “the worst period of [sa] life “.
Subsequently, the PVC imposed more rules for candidates to succeed Ms. Paul. The aspiring leaders of the fifth party represented in the Commons, for example, had to collect signatures from members outside their province, and pass a language test to demonstrate their bilingualism, except for Aboriginal candidates.
The party also imposed a strict media communications embargo on candidates until this week. A former close collaborator of Annamie Paul, Noah Zatzman, has also criticized the whole process, which he perceives as being tailor-made to pave the way for the return of ex-chief Elizabeth May.
The rules of the race had the effect of discouraging or excluding several candidacies, in particular those of the former NDP deputy for the Quebec region Denis Blanchette or the Green Party candidate in Beauport-Limoilou Dalila Elhak.
Alberta candidate Najib Jutt, for his part, categorically refused to take the language test, under the pretext that the requirement of French was discriminatory for immigrants. His justification letter presents English as “the language spoken by most Canadians”, and the requirement of bilingualism as contrary to the values of equity and inclusion.
The Green Party constitution allows for the election of only one leader, but gives the winner the right to appoint deputy leaders. It is expected that if one of the two people in a joint bid wins, they will appoint their partner as deputy leader. The PVC does not rule out changing its constitution to formalize the concept of dual leadership for the future.
Saturday’s meeting, presented as a first between the six candidates and the party members, will be an opportunity for the joint candidates to explain how they intend to lead the party together. Members will have until November to make up their minds.