Embattled Green Party of Canada leader Annamie Paul will be resigning.
Paul announced her resignation Monday in Toronto, one week after an abysmal showing for her party, including a distant loss in her own riding.
At her brief press conference, Paul said the party apparatus had already triggered a leadership review, and she no longer wishes to deal with the “attacks” from within.
The Greens went from three seats in 2019 to two seats this year, with a drop in overall vote share from 6.5% to 2.3%.
The 2021 election was one of the worst results in the Greens’ history. The party fielded its smallest slate since 2000, fielding only 252 candidates across Canada’s 338 ridings.
Paul became leader of the Greens last October following her failed bid to win a by-election in Toronto Centre.
“When I was elected and put in this role, 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,” Paul said.
In the lead-up to the election, Paul faced numerous attempts from Green party insiders to oust her. These internal tensions were inflamed when the Israel-Hamas conflict escalated in May.
Paul, who is Jewish, issued a statement calling for a deescalation in tensions and a return to dialogue on both sides. Two of the three Green Party MPs in Ottawa would publicly repudiate Paul’s statement.
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin subsequently left the Green caucus to join the Liberals.
In response to the growing discontent among party members over Paul’s statement, her aide Noah Zatzman accused Green MPs of “appalling anti-Semitism,” “Jew hatred” and “discrimination.”
Paul was pressured by party members to denounce Zatzman’s post, however she declined to do so.
