New Green leader ready to fight for her seat
Winning her byelection may also mean having to outrun her predecessor
OTTAWA— Newly elected Green party Leader Annamie Paul displays a political acumen that will serve her well in Ottawa, if she can one day win a seat in Parliament.
Right now, that’s her immediate challenge. But it might not be her biggest. That might be trying to outrun her predecessor, Elizabeth May, the public face of the party for the past 13 years.
Paul made Canadian history on Saturday when she became the first Black woman to be elected as a federal party leader.
In her debut news conference Monday on Parliament Hill, Paul praised May as a force to be reckoned with, and the person who will continue to be the Green party’s main spokesperson in the House of Commons until Paul wins a seat.
Yet May, who complained the Greens’ political rivals won’t stand down and let Paul have an unopposed path to Parliament in an Oct. 26 byelection, almost upstaged Paul.
May lamented that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh won’t reciprocate the favour the Greens did him when he ran unopposed by a Green candidate in Burnaby South as his party’s rookie leader. She said it was a “leader’s courtesy” gesture that Singh told her was a “very classy thing” to do.
“I would like Jagmeet Singh to think about it,” May scolded. “I’d like New Democrats to reach out to him and say, ‘How classy is it to try and block the entry to the House of Commons of the first Black woman leader of a federal political party?’ ”
The Liberals and Conservatives also have no intention of standing down in Toronto Centre, the riding where Paul hopes to replace former Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau in a byelection on Oct. 26.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hand-picked a popular broadcaster, Marci Ien, also a Black woman, to replace Morneau as his party’s candidate in a riding that’s been Liberal since 1993.
The NDP has nominated Brian Chang, who also ran last year and came second with 22 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Paul who came fourth, and the Conservative candidate who placed third.
The Conservative candidate in Toronto Centre is Benjamin Sharma.
To her credit, Paul shook off May’s complaints, saying she expects no courtesy breaks from her political opponents and will run elsewhere if she loses in Toronto Centre.
“I’m a first, and as a first you’re accustomed to fighting,” she said. “You’re accustomed to having to overcome every single barrier to get to where you’re trying to go to.”
Paul said her parliamentary priorities are to focus on what Canadians need: better longterm care for seniors, public pharmacare, a guaranteed livable income, free post-secondary education, and a government that honours its commitment to address climate change.
She deflected questions about the extent of Greens’ support for the controversial “boycott, divest and sanction” movement against Israel, saying the party’s members will decide its future platform at an upcoming policy convention, and as long as people embrace the party’s “core values,” a wide range of views will be tolerated.
She artfully dodged questions about harassment allegations against a now-resigned party director, and when asked about internal party unity, she insisted that “tensions” and “argument” make for better policy.
That kind of gumption and ability to parry politically sensitive questions will serve her well. So will the sense of humour that she displayed.
Asked what she brings to Parliament Hill that’s different, she grinned and used her arms and hands to frame her face. “Setting aside the obvious,” she said, “diverse representation matters.”
“We’re going to create better public policy when people like me and more diversity is in the room. You’re far less likely to create a policing policy that targets, for instance, Black Canadians if you have Black Canadians at the table designing that policy.”
It’s clear that the 47-year-old lawyer, a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Ottawa, is keen to get at that table.
Once she does, pollster Shachi Kurl of the Angus Reid Institute said Paul will need to rebrand and restyle the Green party “as not Elizabeth May’s party.”
She will also have to “grow a support base that reflects the population of Canada more broadly,” said Kurl. Last month, an Angus Reid survey of 4,687 decided voters had the Greens polling at around four per cent nationally. The Liberals and Conservatives were tied neck in neck around 35 per cent, the NDP at 17 and the Bloc Québécois at seven per cent.
That’s a lot of ground to make up.
To do that, she’ll also need to broaden the Greens’ appeal as a party that cares not only about climate and the environment. Paul said it’s OK to be a oneissue party “as long as it’s the right issue,” before insisting social concerns go hand in hand with environmental advocacy.
That all means, said Kurl, that Paul has a “dual hill to climb” in putting her own stamp on the leadership. “Ms. Paul is going to have to work very hard to overcome the enduring legacy of Elizabeth May because for so many Canadians for so long, the Green party has been Elizabeth May and Elizabeth May has been the Green party,” she said.
“I’m a first, and as a first you’re accustomed to … having to overcome every single barrier to get to where you’re trying to go to.” ANNAMIE PAUL GREEN PARTY LEADER