Annamie Paul has stepped down as leader of the Green Party of Canada after months of discord within its ranks. She said she doesn’t “have the heart” to sustain the fight to hold onto the reins.
Paul announced her resignation in Toronto exactly a week after the federal election that witnessed the party’s failure to increase its foothold in the House of Commons as the party’s share of the popular vote was reduced.
She said she started contemplating whether to stay at the party helm recently after discovering that a leadership review had been initiated.
She said: “I just asked myself whether this is something that I wanted to continue, whether I was willing to continue to put up with the attacks I knew would be coming, whether to continue to have to fight and struggle just to fulfil my democratically elected role as leader of this party.
“And I just don’t have the heart for it.”
While talking further, Paul said she knew some would be disappointed and that many of her supporters would want her to stay on, and revealed that the decision was not an easy one.
She said: “It has been the worst period in my life in many respects, but I am not alone and you are not alone.”
Paul surmounted a bid to remove her as leader a few weeks before the election and encountered an automatic leadership review after the ballot. She said she had got in touch with the party’s federal council to commence the process of her resignation and the hunt for a new leader.
She said that part of her motivation during the campaign emanated from wanting to create a way for people like her and make them realise it could be done.
She said: “What people need to realize is that when I was elected, 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 throughout my time as a leader, and when I arrived at (the leaders’ debate during the campaign), I had crawled over that glass, I was spitting up blood but I was determined to be there.”
During the recent election, Paul came fourth in Toronto Centre, which was her third failed attempt to win the riding.
Paul said the election was “very difficult” and pointed to a lack of funding, campaign staff, and a national campaign manager.
She also said the persistent internal tussle undermined the party’s chances at the ballots.
She said: “When you head into an election being, again, under the threat of a court process from your party, it’s going to be very hard to convince people to vote for your party.”
She said it was a “tremendous struggle” to decide to go on with the election under those circumstances and added that she knew the outcome might not be good.
She said: “I knew that we were likely not going to do well, and I knew that as the leader — even without those tools that I needed — the first person that the public would look at would be me.”
Paul made it known that though she doesn’t regret her decision, it was “quite clear” she was not offered the opportunity to lead the party and would not be offered that chance in the future.
