It’s been a tumultuous time for the Green Party of Canada.
But as the party’s leadership race approaches its sunset, Greens across the country are hoping for the dawn of a new era.
The party, celebrating their 40th anniversary next year, is facing an identity crisis of sorts — one that new leadership hopes to shake.
Among the candidates vying for the leadership are author Sarah Gabrille Baron, teacher at the Department of National Defence Simon Gnocchini-Messier, and the joint ticket of former P.E.I. Green Party President Anna Keenan and 2018 Green Party of Quebec candidate Chad Walcott.
A familiar face can be found on the other joint ticket, as former Green Party leader Elizabeth May teams up with human rights activist Jonathan Pedneault on a shared platform.
The Greens, which make up Canada’s fifth-largest political party, have spent recent months doing damage control, after the party failed to run a candidate in every district in 2021 and ultimately received fewer votes than the People’s Party of Canada.
Introducing the candidates
Last week, the candidates faced off in a leadership debate moderated by The Hill Times Deputy Editor (and former rabble.ca Editor) Chelsea Nash.
Baron, who joined the Green Party in 2005, noted in her opening statement she’s been waiting for the party to “be true to that key principle of participatory democracy and a decentralized power structure.”
For Gnocchini-Messier, his campaign is all about “green social democracy,” a concept he describes as opposing neoliberal capitalism “by focusing on meeting the needs of all citizens, as opposed to the neoliberal goal of merely creating more wealth.”
Keenan, who shares a ticket with Walcott, grew up in Australia and earned degrees in science and economics before becoming involved with the Green Party of Australia. Keenan went on to spend five years working with Greenpeace International in Europe. That’s where she met her Canadian-born husband. The rest is history.
Since coming to Canada in 2013, Keenan has continued supporting the Green Party, even running unsuccessfully in two federal elections.
“I think when Canadians look at politics at the moment, the dominant feeling is a feeling of disappointment and frustration because we’ve been promised the world but we’re not actually seeing results in terms of progressive policies on climate change, on housing, on economic inequality, on health care,” Keenan said.
Keenan and Walcott bring more than 25 years of experience in non-profit governance conflict resolution. In his opening statement, Walcott made clear the duo’s goal is to get 12 Green MPs elected to the House of Commons, a move that would shift the balance of power and get the Greens the official party status that would help push through bold climate action policies.
Part of Keenan and Walcott’s platform includes creating a Black Caucus and an LGBTQ2I+ Caucus, while also reinforcing the Indigenous Advisory Circle that already exists within the party. Baron’s campaign is also seeking an incident reporting system to help lead to accountability within the party ranks.
Asked about their plans for the leadership, Baron says she “lives in the real world,” unlike some of her competitors. She referred to a “somewhat shocking dream world that the others are living in,” noting that “two egos at the top is not magically a grassroots organization.”
Keenan questioned Pedneault’s credentials for running as co-leader, pointing out he has never been elected to public office.
READ MORE: Green Party seeks to turn over new leaf with leadership race
Pedneault is the youngest candidate running for leader. Running alongside the oldest candidate in the race, Pedneault brings more than a decade of experience to the table of traveling the frontlines of conflicts, revolutions, and tragedies in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.
“I’ve seen how the world’s post-war architecture repeatedly fell short on its promise to reduce suffering, [and] broaden the benefits of freedom, safety, rights and equality,” Pedneault said.
For the only candidate with experience leading a federal party, May highlighted the fact that the Green Party was created out of a need for government to take meaningful action on the environment and anti-nuclear initiatives.
Noting that she ended her tenure as leader with three elected MPs, the most in the party’s history, May says what makes this leadership race stand out from the last one is a greater sense of solidarity and teamwork among the party ranks to see as many Greens elected to Parliament as possible.
“A leader who’s outside Parliament is just not going to be as effective,” May said.
Invoking the words of former German Green Party member Petra Kelly, May noted that, “as Greens, we have to do the impossible or we’ll be forced to suffer through the unthinkable.”
Candidates talk party strife
One of Nash’s questions highlighted the internal issues within the Green Party that resulted in the first Black and Jewish woman to lead a federal party in Canada, Annamie Paul, to resign and leave the party altogether in November of 2021.
Paul claimed she experienced racism from colleagues during her time as leader, while attributing her failed run as leader to internal infighting amongst senior party officials.
Each candidate accepted Paul’s claims but Gnocchini-Messier noted he “found it very difficult to accept the narrative of mainstream media that we are in constant internal strife in the party.”
In order to get the party back in formation, Keenan called for a stronger anti-harassment policy within the Green Party of Canada, as well as restorative justice processes.
May compared the infighting within the Green Party to problems facing Canadian society, including racism, sexism and homophobia, but reaffirmed the need for the party to be allies with equity-seeking groups.
“There was a mismatch between Annamie’s skills and her talents, and what a Green Party leader should be,” May said, adding the leader needs to be a team builder, listen to others, and bring in a deputy leader expeditiously. “There were mistakes that were made on all sides and there’s no question about that.”
For Pedneault, a biracial and gay man, he says he hasn’t experienced racism or discrimination from his colleagues in the Green Party, but added that the party needs to build more welcoming and inclusive structures and practices.
Calling for an investigation into the claims Paul has made about her time as Green Party leader, May said she would continue to support one even if re-elected.
“No white woman would ever have the gall to suggest that a racialized person did not experience racism,” May said, before going on to say that she does not believe “that was the reason for our dismal results” in the 2021 federal election.
Voting in the leadership race opened on Saturday, and a new leader is expected to be announced on November 19.
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