Green Party settles with commission over federal leaders’ debate exclusion

Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May, right, and Jonathan Pedneault, then her co-leader, speak to supporters as they launch their election campaign in Montreal on Sunday, March 23, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

OTTAWA — The federal Leaders’ Debate Commission says it has reached a settlement with the Green Party after the party vowed to challenge its removal from the spring election debates.

The commission rescinded an invitation back in April for Jonathan Pedneault, then co-leader of the Greens, to appear at a pair of leaders’ debates in Montreal.

The commission said at the time that it made the decision because the Green Party was not running candidates in the necessary number of ridings.

The Greens were outraged at the decision, which landed on the morning of the first debate, and vowed to take the commission to court over the exclusion.

The commission said in a brief statement Tuesday that it has settled with the party but did not provide any details of the settlement.

Pedneault stepped down as co-leader after failing to secure a seat in the April 28 election, leaving Elizabeth May as the sole leader of the party and its only member of Parliament after the spring vote.

May also declined to share any details about the settlement in an interview with The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

She said the last-minute removal from the debates was a “devastating result” for the Greens that left the party without time for a proper legal challenge to reverse the decision.

“The decisions about who is on that stage are huge and consequential,” May said.

The Green Party fell to just 1.3 per cent national support in the spring election and failed to nominate a full slate of candidates.

Pedneault told CBC News the party also strategically held back 15 candidates in ridings where they thought Conservative candidates might win.

The debates commission cited the decision to reduce the number of Green candidates “for strategic reasons” in its explanation for withdrawing Pedneault’s invitation.

May said that while she supports the debate commission in principle, it did not have a “good showing” in this last election. She said the mishandling of media accreditations leading to the cancellation of the leaders’ media scrums after the English-language debate let voters down.

May said she sees a leadership vacuum at the commission. The debates commissioner position remains vacant since David Johnson left the post in spring 2023.

She said she’s written to Prime Minister Mark Carney urging him to appoint a new commissioner but has seen little indication the Liberals are actively looking to fill the role.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.

— with files from Nick Murray

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press