The Green Party of Canada officially opened the candidate application process for its leadership race on June 28, and a list by the Toronto Star named a number of potential contenders, including some with anti-Israel views among other left-wing beliefs.
The Star’s list includes the six following people:
Dalila Elhak
Elhak was the Green party candidate in the Quebec riding of Beauport—Limoilou and declared her intention to run to replace Annamie Paul, who she called “a disgrace” of a leader, back in September 2021.
She has posted several anti-Israel tweets, including one in which she called Israel an “apartheid” regime, a common anti-Semitic trope.
Elhak told True North “my positions are unchangeable and reflect my non-negotiable values which are opposed to violence and in favour of the establishment of a lasting peace between the different parties.”
She also called for Canada-wide mask mandates back in 2020.
Sarah Gabrielle Baron
Baron, who ran as an independent against Erin O’Toole in the 2021 federal election, is described by the Star as “an avowed campaigner against nuclear energy.” Her Twitter timeline contains multiple posts disavowing the clean energy source responsible for 54% of her own province of Ontario’s energy.
She also said that the Freedom Convoy movement that was demanding an end to discriminatory vaccine mandates may be “Russian-sponsored”.
Furthermore, Baron previously said she wanted to see a 60% reduction to Canada’s carbon footprint in the span of just eight and a half years.
Naomi Hunter
Hunter is currently the leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party, but is seen as a potential candidate to lead the federal party.
During the pandemic, Hunter shared calls for tough restrictions in Saskatchewan and re-tweeted praise for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after she postponed her wedding amid the introduction of new Covid-19 restrictions.
In June 2021, Hunter shared a Tweet that said “Cancelling Canada Day is the first step in beginning to build a better Canada”, and called on municipalities to cancel their Canada Day celebrations.
“We continue to see numerous findings of human remains at residential school sites. I continue to feel that we as a country need to do more to show solidarity with the families and communities of residential school survivors and those who did not survive,” Hunter told True North.
Najib Jutt
Jutt, an Alberta-based CBC political commentator and provincial Green Party strategist, was outspoken last year amid the announcement of unmarked graves at the sites of former Indian residential schools.
He shared tweets that condoned acts of vandalism against Catholic and Christian communities.
True North asked Jutt if he would denounce the attacks on Christian and Catholic communities that Canada witnessed last year, but he did not respond.
Jutt is also a vocal opponent of Winston Churchill, claiming he was a “genocidal racist.” The former British prime minister is known for having stopped the Nazis in World War II.
Anna Keenan
Keenan was a Green Party candidate in Prince Edward Island riding of Malpeque. Her Twitter bio states that she uses both “She” and “They” pronouns, and she’s shared pro-abortion views on social media, as well as Covid alarmism.
Keenan said she is dreaming of “building a post-colonial future” and that Canada and the United States could “take a page” from Australia’s gun laws, which ban the ownership of firearms for self-defence.
She has also criticized the Israeli government and suggested that the Freedom Convoy should have been removed faster.
Alex Tyrrell
The leader of the Quebec Green Party told True North he believes the federal party should “take a sharp left turn and adopt an eco-socialist platform while returning to our activist roots.”
Tyrrell has shared anti-Israel views on social media and promoted Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a movement that has been accused of detouring into anti-Semitism. However, Tyrrell said he categorically rejects “any assertion that criticism of the Israeli government or Israeli military equates to anti-Semitism.”
He also said that former Green Party Annamie Paul, who is Jewish, was facing internal backlash because she would not “condemn the racist actions of the state of Israel.”
Tyrrell has shown support for the Extinction Rebellion environmentalist movement and participated in a “Shut Down Canada” Indigenous rail blockade which he said halted rail Traffic in Montreal for over two hours.
Furthermore, Tyrrell opposed University of Ottawa professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval’s use of the “N-Word” in one of her lectures, and said he was in solidarity with the George Floyd protesters in the United States.
When asked by True North about the violence seen during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Tyrrell said he is “inspired by Martin Luther King’s way of thinking on violence in the civil rights movement; that its presence does not serve the movement.”
True North reached out to all six prospective candidates to give them the opportunity to explain some of their controversial stances.
The Green Party of Canada is expected to choose its new leader on November 19.
