The first half of Wednesday afternoon’s debate — conducted on Zoom — allowed for a little one-on-one confrontation as the candidates were given equal time to answer a list of questions. But they were offered the option to challenge what the other candidates had said in their answers, which led to some back-and-forth — especially on the issue of party relevance. Former Greens leader and current MP Elizabeth May, who is running as a dual candidate with Jonathan Pendno, said having a leader in parliament was the best way to make the party relevant again. “The longer we go on without a leader who is in Parliament, we become less relevant and we have to be directly relevant,” he said. But Anna Keenan and Chad Walcott, also running for co-sponsorship, have suggested they can work with the party’s sitting MPs to push issues through Parliament. May “will be in parliament anyway, regardless of who wins the leadership,” Keenan said. “We are committed to working extremely well with her … if we win the leadership.” Keenan pointed out that May’s running mate, Pednault, is a young politician and questioned his ability to campaign. Both Keenan and Walcott have previously stood as Green candidates in local ridings. “I think electoral experience really matters and I’d love to see that [Pednault] run and see what it takes to succeed in an election,” Keenan said. But Pednault responded that he has experience running the leadership campaign and asked Keenan and Walcott about how they would lead outside Parliament. “The leadership of the party requires you to have the ability to interact with the prime minister, with the other leaders of the party,” Pedno said. Walcott said the party has MPs it can rely on for parliamentary debates and can rely on leaders to raise issues externally. “We believe in tactical diversity, we need pressure inside and outside,” said Walcott. The two candidates running as individuals, Sarah Gabrielle Baron and Simon Gnocchini-Messier, also proposed ideas to give the party traction. Baron said the party needed to focus on being a grassroots organisation, give more power to local constituency associations and make herself and her leadership team available for weekly policy debates. “Two egos, two leaders at the top doesn’t magically make a grassroots organization,” he said. Gnocchini-Messier said he joined the party after becoming disillusioned with the NDP and wanted to present the Greens as a left-wing alternative to his former party, which he accused of too often supporting the Liberals. Annami Paul concedes defeat in Toronto in the last federal election on September 20, 2021. She then resigned as party leader and quit the Greens altogether. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press) “To be relevant in the next federal election we will have to claim a crystal-clear green-social-democratic platform,” he said. Both tesserae candidates also tried to present themselves as better fundraisers. The latest figures from Elections Canada show that while May and Pednault have raised the most money, Keenan and Walcott have the most individual donors. Candidates were also forced to refer to the departure of former leader Annamie Paul, who ended her membership of the party when she resigned. During her press conference after the 2021 federal election, Paul described her time as leader as “the worst period of my life” in many ways. Some party members had criticized Paul’s leadership style and blamed her for the defection of MP Jenica Atwin to the Liberals earlier that year. Then, said Paul The charges against her were based on racism and sexism. While most of today’s candidates have said they don’t necessarily agree with Paul’s leadership style, all have committed to internal reform to ensure the party is a welcoming place. It was the only official English-language debate of the leadership campaign. Party members will vote for their new leader online and by mail. The Greens will announce the winner on November 19.
