Skip to main content

Amita Kuttner says party must stop infighting, focus on environmental issues

Green Party Interim Leader Amita Kuttner poses for a photograph in Vancouver, on Thursday, November 25, 2021. Kuttner, a nonbinary astrophysicist who is an expert in black holes, was appointed Wednesday by the Greens' Federal Council to lead the party until a new leader is elected next year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Green Party Interim Leader Amita Kuttner poses for a photograph in Vancouver, on Thursday, November 25, 2021. Kuttner, a nonbinary astrophysicist who is an expert in black holes, was appointed Wednesday by the Greens' Federal Council to lead the party until a new leader is elected next year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Share
Ottawa -

Amita Kuttner, the newly named interim leader of the Green Party of Canada, says their job is to heal the party after months of infighting and strife.

Kuttner, 30, who identifies as nonbinary and transgender, says they want to bring an end to internal squabbles and get the party "back on track" during their time in the role before the Greens choose their next leader.

The astrophysicist from Vancouver says that with flooding and climate change devastating the country, this is the "exact moment" when the Green Party's policies are most needed.

Public support for the Greens plummeted in the Sept. 20 election and then Annamie Paul quit as leader, describing her time in the job as the worst period in her life.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Kuttner says they have been the target of transphobia within the party and finds some internal party politics to have been "very nasty."

They said the solution is not to kick people out of the party, but to teach them to appreciate other people's experiences and points of view.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2021.

IN DEPTH

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney dies at 84

Former Canadian prime minister and Conservative stalwart Brian Mulroney has died at age 84. Over his impressive career, the passionate and ambitious politician, businessman, husband, father, and grandfather left an unmistakable mark on the country.

Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

opinion

opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report

It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'

The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.

Stay Connected