Recording captures Green leader’s frustration with party
Paul says top officials blocked her from making decisions after she won leadership race
Leader Annamie Paul vented frustration with how top party officials were preventing her from making key decisions in the first months of her leadership, according to an audio recording of an internal meeting that was obtained by the Star.
The recording from Feb. 11 is the first direct evidence that Paul agrees with more than a dozen Green sources who have described how she is facing internal obstacles from powerful officials in her own party.
It also comes after the party brought in a conflict resolution expert amid ongoing tensions over allegations of racism and calls for high-ranking party officials to resign.
During the recorded meeting on Feb. 11, the Green party’s governance committee voted against Paul’s wishes and sided with former leader Elizabeth May to appoint a caucus representative to the organization’s working group for the next general election campaign.
Paul reacted by expressing frustration that party officials were preventing her from making organizational decisions since she was elected Green leader last October.
“There have been a number of times recently where I have come … and asked you to do something that I sincerely believe will assist me in my role, and the result has been negative,” Paul said.
“I think it’s important for me to remind everyone that the person ultimately that will be blamed for the failure of the next election, or conversely congratulated … for the success, will be me.
“So the feeling that I have that that is not a consideration, and when I am asking for a structure or an organization that I think would best be able to support the effort, which is really to see more Greens elected — it is extremely frustrating for me,” she added.
“I really am struggling to understand why this is happening this often.”
May, who is heard speaking at length on the recording of the meeting, told the Star on April 5 that she had “never heard” Paul mention obstacles she is facing within the party.
It’s not clear whether May was still in the meeting when Paul expressed her frustration.
May did not respond to requests for comment from the Star on Thursday.
Paul also declined to comment when contacted by the Star. She has previously downplayed the situation and refused to speak about the details of internal party issues.
In an emailed statement, party spokesperson Rosie Emery repeated that Paul “does not comment on internal Green party meetings.”
In recent weeks, the Star has reported on discord within the party that sources say threatens Paul’s success as leader.
Sean Yo, who worked on Paul’s leadership bid and managed her campaign in the Toronto Centre byelection last October, has described “significant resistance” from a coterie of top officials.
Yo said this includes how the party asked that campaign to pay back $50,000 in “seed money” in the middle of the race, and how Paul — who does not have a seat and salary in Parliament — worked for three months without an employment contract from the party.
Other sources have pointed to how Paul’s top choice for national field director in the next general election, Green organizer Matthew Piggott, was fired on March 1, and that Paul opposed the federal council decision to appoint Dana Taylor as the party’s executive director.
Yo and several other sources named Green Party Fund representative Kate Storey, Manitoba representative Beverley Eert and federal council vicepresident John Kidder, who is May’s husband, as officials creating difficulties for Paul.
Yo also told the Star he believes it is difficult to understand the situation without looking through the “lens of race, gender and religion.”
Paul is the first elected Black leader of a major federal party. She is also Jewish.
Days later, Zahra Mitra, the party’s diversity co-ordinator issued a scathing condemnation of party officials who she said responded to Yo’s comments by denying racism exists in the party. In a letter to dozens of Green operatives, Mitra called for unnamed top officials to resign because their presence was “sending equity-seeking participants the message that the party is not a safe space for them, and that their voices will not be valued here.”
On Sunday, members of an unofficial Green members group hosted a “listening circle” that was billed as an attempt to smooth over tensions. According to a description of the event on the group’s website, the party is “struggling” with diversity and inclusion and must have a conversation to “practice and model a healthier, safer and constructive dynamic.”
Then, on Tuesday night, the party brought Iman Ibrahim into a closed-door session of federal council, according to an audio recording obtained by the Star that includes the portion of the meeting that was open to all Green members. Ibrahim is the former executive director of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution and a consultant in Ottawa who offers leadership training and “soulful guidance,” according to her professional website.
She did not respond to requests for comment. The party also declined to say why Ibrahim was brought in.