OTTAWA-
The Green Party’s Elizabeth May is keeping her focus on climate action and internal growth after disappointing results during her brief hiatus as party leader.
May now shares the role with Jonathan Pedneault after presenting a co-leadership plan to party members during the leadership race this fall.
This will eventually require a change in party rules to allow the couple to share chores, which the two expect to happen this year.
“There’s broad support among the members for the co-leadership model,” May said in an interview this week. She called her time working with Pedneault a “completely different experience” from her previous tenure as chief from 2006 to 2019.
Four of the six candidates in the November leadership race favored the co-leadership model. Anna Keenan, who raced with fellow community organizer Chad Walcott, placed second to May.
May, 68, said his longevity as a pillar of Canadian politics was not a problem. She said she regularly writes 100 hours a week. But this time, she has help.
“People might think I was slowing down, but I don’t feel the need to slow down,” she said.
“I have a lot of reserves left, but I also look to the future with confidence because I share this workload.”
Pedneault plans to run for a seat in Quebec in the next federal election, likely in Montreal, where the party favors running a candidate. The Greens, who currently hold two seats in the House of Commons — May in British Columbia and Mike Morrice in Ontario — have never won in Quebec.
“I’ll do whatever’s best for the party at the end of the day,” he said in a separate interview.
Support for the Greens fell to 2.3% of the popular vote in the 2021 election, held under former leader Annamie Paul. His time in the role was marred by internal battles that spilled over into public view and fundraising challenges.
Seeking to move forward and build the party’s brand, May is featured prominently on the party’s website sans Pedneault. But he said he didn’t feel overshadowed by the political veteran “whatever”.
“We’ve been very good at sharing responsibilities, commitments, public speaking engagements,” he said.
May calls them “equal partners” and a “team.”
“I want people to get to know Jonathan,” she says.
Discussions around party governance and fundraising are still ongoing internally, but Pedneault said it was ‘good to finally talk about the real issues’ rather than ‘the issues we had internally’ .
With May’s weather away from the leadership in the rearview mirror, the party is rebuilding and now refocusing on issues like health care, inflation and a green energy transition.
“Canadians from (the) west coast to coast are grappling with health care and the health care crisis,” Pedneault said.
He plans to travel across Canada throughout the year, visiting members and helping to organize varsity clubs at universities, while May will handle the bulk of parliamentary work.
He said the party will also continue to advocate for guaranteed living income, food security and transitioning the economy away from fossil fuels while providing support for workers.
Debate over the Liberal government’s plans to pass “just transition” legislation to help steer change to a clean energy economy has intensified this week, with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stating that she would fight it “with all the tools at Alberta’s disposal”.
May said she found the reaction to the “just transition” plans unnecessarily controversial, noting that the Liberals had promised such legislation since 2019. She also said the concept was embedded in the Paris Agreement reached at the 2015 United Nations climate change conference.
“It’s very bland language. I find it appalling that politicians decide that it’s somehow divisive or unnecessary. It’s just weird,” she said.
May said Canada was in a “new kind of climate denial” by continuing to promote policies that would not meet international obligations to reduce carbon emissions.
But she maintains he has time to avoid the worst of climate change.
“We’re not doomsayers. We’re the ones saying we still have time,” she said. “We can avoid the worst, but not with the current plan.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on January 20, 2023.
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