Greens set out leadership rules, fees
Federal party will select next leader in Charlottetown in the fall
Candidates looking to succeed Elizabeth May as the leader of the federal Green Party will have until June to put their hand up, party leaders announced on Monday.
Federal interim leader JoAnn Roberts announced the rules of the national leadership contest during a news conference at the P.E.I. Convention Centre in Charlottetown on Monday, which will also be the site of the federal Green party convention, Oct. 3-4.
Candidates have until June 3, 2020, to submit an application.
“We hope we will attract a wide range of people who have the vision and the skills for this job, to take this party into the next wave," Roberts said.
"We want to encourage contestants who may not be well-known nationally, who may have provincial or regional roots, to be able to enter the race, find their nominators locally and then build that national profile."
Party leader Elizabeth May stepped down in November, having led the party for 13 years.
Despite helping to make climate change a central political issue, the national party disappointed many by winning only three seats in the last federal election.
Leadership candidates will be required to pay a total of $50,000 in non-refundable fees, over three stages. An initial application fee is set at $1,000, followed by an entry fee of $9,000 10 days later. A further $40,000 fee is due by July 31, 2020.
Roberts said that the splitting of the fees would reduce the barrier this might pose to qualified candidates.
"One of the skills the leader needs to have is the ability to raise funds," Roberts said.
Candidates will also have to collect a total of 250 nominating signatures, including 20 from young members and 20 each from the five regions of Canada.
The voting process will be online and in-person at the convention and will be held through a preferential ballot. A “none-of-the-above” option will also appear on the ballot. Members can sign-up to vote as members until Sept. 3 with the minimum age of membership to be set at 14.
So far, six candidates have publicly expressed interest in running for the party’s leadership.
Three of these candidates told The Guardian the party’s entry requirements would not pose a barrier.
Annamie Paul, a Toronto lawyer, ran as the party’s candidate in Toronto Centre in October.
She said the phased-in approach of the entry fees struck a good balance.
“It was important to the federal council and the leadership committee to create a set of rules that wouldn't pose an insurmountable barrier to any serious candidate, whether they're from an equity-seeking group of not," Paul said.
If successful, Paul would become the first black woman to lead a federal party in Canada.
Julie Tremblay-Cloutier, who owns a pool-and spainspection business in Oka, Que., agreed the fee and signature requirements were fair. But she took issue with a rule requiring all donations be subject to a 25 per cent “administrative fee” from the central party.
“I found it high. Ten to 15 per cent would be OK. But 25 per cent of everything raised would go to the party and not our campaign,” Tremblay Cloutier said.
Judy Green, of Clementsport, N.S., also took issue with the 25 per cent fee. Green, who ran as the party’s candidate in West Nova, announced on Jan. 24 that she planned to enter the race.
Green said she understood the need for administrative fees.
“However, if there are monies raised at the end of the campaign for each of the leadership candidates or a leadership contestant must bow out, any monies they've raised to that point all has to go back to the national coffers,” Green said.
“I would have preferred to see those go to the local (electoral district associations), to really support those grassroots movements."
Three other individuals Constantine Kritsonis of Ontario, David Merner of B.C. and Alex Tyrrell of Quebec – have expressed interest in the leadership.