Annamie Paul sought to show Monday her party has pushed past a period of bitter strife ahead of a likely election, as lingering tensions leave Greens in limbo and Paul reeling from a temporarily sidelined threat to her leadership.
At an afternoon news conference, Paul confirmed that a non-confidence motion against her planned for Tuesday was cancelled, and that no similar motions will be proposed by the current federal council — the party’s main governing body — or prior to the next party convention.
8:01 Green party leader Annamie Paul says she wants to move forward after non-confidence vote scrapped
Green party leader Annamie Paul says she wants to move forward after non-confidence vote scrapped
“This experience has been incredibly painful for me and for my family, and I want to be up front about that. It is extremely hard to have your integrity questioned when you value it so much,” she told reporters in Toronto Centre, the riding she hopes to win following two unsuccessful attempts that have kept her out of the House of Commons.
Paul admitted she considered stepping down amid what she dubbed a “one-sided campaign” waged against her leadership by party brass in recent months, but said she felt she owed it to the Greens who elected her last year to continue.
“I also didn’t want to let down all of the people — young, old, from different backgrounds, from different unrepresented groups — who had asked me over the course of the past eight to nine months, ‘Is there a place for someone like me in politics?”’ she said. “Diversity in politics matter.”
1:50 Not easy being Green: Party in turmoil, reports of pink slips
Not easy being Green: Party in turmoil, reports of pink slips – Jul 8, 2021
A party membership review launched last week by Green interim executive director Dana Taylor that would have suspended Paul’s membership, has also been shelved, Paul confirmed.
She declined to answer multiple questions about whether arbitration and legal wrangling resulted in the scrapped non-confidence motion and membership review, or if it was scrapped because players realized that “we are compromising our ability” to elect MPs, as Paul put it.
The shifts appear to keep her insulated from an immediate ouster until an expected federal election in the coming months, as the party council will turn over on Aug. 20. However, a general meeting of members is scheduled for Aug. 21, when the party pledge to not depose its leader expires and the new crop of councillors could be as resistant to Paul as the current one.
Other problems hampering the Greens have not gone away, including a payroll cut in half this month due to financial imbalances reported by party brass, despite Paul’s objections to the temporary layoffs. Green executives also moved to withhold funding from Paul’s campaign to win the Toronto Centre seat as Canada’s 44th election looms.
The new truce also helps cement the prospect that a Black Canadian will lead a mainstream party into a national campaign for the first time in the country’s history.
4:15 Annamie Paul asks voters to focus on Green candidates, not party leadership controversy
Annamie Paul asks voters to focus on Green candidates, not party leadership controversy
Backed by sign-toting supporters, Paul held the news conference at St. James Park in downtown Toronto as bells occasionally tolled, with St. Lawrence Hall in the background. The neoclassical building served as a venue for the North American abolitionist movement shortly after it opened in 1850.
In spite of the retreat by party executives who have clashed openly with Paul, tensions remain as Greens struggle to pitch an agenda that has been overshadowed by months of internal strife.
“This is a wounded party,” said Daniel Beland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “It seems there is still bad blood between her and some members of the executive.”
An Angus Reid poll published Friday showed only three per cent of respondents intended to cast a ballot for the Greens
The figure falls far short of the 6.55 per cent of the vote they garnered in the 2019 election, despite climate change and the environment now tying for the most important issue in voters’ minds, according to the poll.
“You see what’s happening in B.C. with the fires and what’s happening in Europe with the floods, and people tie that to climate change. So it would normally be a very good time to be the leader of the Green party, because the main issue that your party is about is really popular right now. But that’s not the case,” Beland said.
“Parties often have internal debates, but this exploded in public and on social media and the newspapers and so forth, and this has affected the image of Annamie Paul as the leader but also the image of the Green party.”
The nixed non-confidence vote by federal council would have required support from three-quarters of the 13-member governing body in order to proceed to a party-wide vote the following month at a general meeting, where an ultimate judgment on Paul’s leadership could have been rendered by the grassroots.
2:29 Green Party Leader Annamie Paul isn’t bowing to calls for resignation
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul isn’t bowing to calls for resignation – Jun 16, 2021
Paul came in second to Liberal Marci Ien in a byelection last fall — they earned about 33 per cent and 42 per cent of the vote respectively — to replace former finance minister Bill Morneau in the riding.
The Liberal stronghold has remained red since 1993 and hosted prominent MPs including Bill Graham and Bob Rae.
Paul came in fourth place when she ran there in the 2019 general election.
There are now two Green MPs in Parliament, including former leader Elizabeth May.
The party has been riven by infighting and factionalism for months as Paul, who was elected leader in October 2020, attempts to steer the Greens in a new direction.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
