Green Party leadership candidate Elizabeth May speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Elizabeth May was chosen to return as leader of the Green Party of Canada after running on a promise to share the role with Jonathan Pedneault.
May, the longtime member of Parliament from British Columbia who led the party from 2006 to 2019, won the leadership race on the sixth ballot, after the other candidates were eliminated.
She joined the race committing to name Pedneault as deputy leader, and the two will seek to amend the party’s constitution to allow for an official co-leadership model.
Pedneault is from Montreal and an expert on crisis situations who has investigated abuses in war zones, including Afghanistan.
The other co-leadership pair that ran as candidates, non-profit organizers Anna Keenan, who placed second, and Chad Walcott, had argued their fresh faces are what the party needs as it looks to move on from a disappointing result in the 2021 election and turmoil within the ranks.
Sarah Gabrielle Baron and Simon Gnocchini-Messier, who both ran unsuccessfully for the party in past elections, rounded out the roster of candidates.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2022.