Greens’ May fires three shadow cabinet members over statement

Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May fired three members of her shadow cabinet Tuesday following their harsh criticism of B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver.

The three were among 24 party members, including Green foreign affairs critic and 2015 Vancouver Centre candidate Lisa Barrett, who slammed Weaver in a published statement on the Tyee online newspaper.

They accused him of being “misguided” in his criticism of the federal party after members at a summer convention adopted a motion advocating a boycott of Israel over its human rights record.

All 24 included next to their names their status with the party as either officials, past candidates or both, even though neither May nor party officials had advance knowledge of the letter.

“This looked like a rogue group with an agenda,” Weaver said in an interview.

“Elizabeth did what she had to do and I’m grateful.”

May threatened to quit as leader in response to the decision at an August convention by a majority of party members in attendance to embrace the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) movement against Israel.

Instead, May will try to reverse the policy at a special meeting in Calgary in December.

Weaver, commenting on the Tyee website, said some party members are considering a name change after the next B.C. election due to public perceptions that the federal and B.C. parties are formally linked.

He also made clear he’s concerned that many people don’t distinguish between the two par- ties, and therefore judge the provincial party following events like the Israel boycott initiative.

“The B.C. Greens will not let ourselves be hijacked by extremist fringe elements,” Weaver wrote on the website.

He later said in an interview with Postmedia that he would be shocked if May didn’t take action against Barrett, science critic Colin Griffiths of Quebec and justice critic Dimitri Lascaris of Ontario.

He also said he’d be open to a name change if it was advanced in a post-election gathering of provincial party members.

Weaver said he’s encountered some potential candidates who associate the provincial party with the federal Greens, and don’t recognize that the B.C. party is “centrist” in its ideological approach.

May was swift in bringing down the hammer against senior members who made it appear they were speaking on behalf of the party.

“Members are free to express their opinions,” Green spokesman Dan Palmer said in a statement.

“However, they are asked to do so while making explicit they are speaking as individuals, and not on behalf of the party.”

May, who was not made available for comment on the matter, will use an internal party survey to help her try to reverse the party’s official support of the BMD movement.

Only 28 per cent of the 2,856 party members who responded to the survey viewed it as acceptable “as is,” while 44 per cent want it repealed and 28 per cent said a boycott policy shouldn’t be tied specifically to Israel.