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 – The federal Green Party was set to announce its new leader on Saturday night.
Party members began been casting ballots for a new leader over on Nov. 12, and the results were set to be announced at an evening announcement at a hotel in downtown Ottawa.
There were six names on the ranked ballot, but four of the candidates intended to implement a co-leadership model that would see them sharing the role with another of the contenders if elected to succeed Annamie Paul as party leader.
Elizabeth May, who led the party from 2006 to 2019 and currently sits as one of the party’s two members of Parliament, is looking for a comeback with running mate Jonathan Pedneault.
The other co-leadership pair, non-profit organizers Anna Keenan and Chad Walcott, argued their fresh faces are just what the party needs as it looks to bounce back from a disappointing showing in the last federal election and long-standing turmoil within the ranks.
Sarah Gabrielle Baron and Simon Gnocchini-Messier, who both ran unsuccessfully for the party in past elections, rounded out the ballot.
The leadership candidates delivered short speeches before the results were set to be announced at 8 p.m., with each stressing the importance of unity.
“It has been a bit of a rough patch, but we’re out of it now,” May said in her speech.
“And we can confidently say that when tonight is over we are united regardless of the outcome. We are working together.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2022.
