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Annamie Paul stands down as leader of the Green Party of Canada

TORONTO — Annamie Paul is standing down as leader of the Green Party of Canada after her recent loss during the federal election.

Paul failed to win her seat in the riding of Toronto-Centre, and only two seats went to the Greens.

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May, who served as party leader from 2006 to 2019, was re-elected on Sept. 20. Newcomer Mike Morrice was also elected for the Greens in Kitchener Centre. Incumbent Green Paul Manly lost in Nanaimo-Ladysmith in a race that was decided by mail-in ballots several days after election day.

Paul announced she would not have an opportunity to lead the party after the election after she was notified by email of a leadership review Sunday.

“This has been the worst period in my life,” Paul said about stepping down.

She suggested she knew the party would be doomed to a poor performance in the election.

Paul, who became Canada’s first Black person to lead a major Canadian political party, says she wanted to show that someone who looked like her could stand on the national stage.

“What people need to realize is that when I was elected and put into this role I was breaking a glass ceiling. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I was breaking a glass ceiling that was going to fall on my head and leave a lot of shards of glass that I was going to have to crawl over during my time as a leader,” Paul said Monday morning from Toronto.

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She says she has no regrets for what she’s done, but there was no way she was going to be able to stay in that role.

“In doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that when you head into an election without funding for your campaign, when you head into an election without the staff to staff your campaign, when you head into an election without a national campaign manager, when you head into an election while being under threat a court process from your party, it’s going to be very difficult to convince people to vote for your party.”

Paul has served as leader of the Green Party since October of last year. There’s no word on who will replace her at this time.

With files from The Canadian Press

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