May asks to stay on as Green leader after announcing plans to step aside

Green Party Leader and MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — Elizabeth May is campaigning to stay on as Green Party leader as a faction of party members mounts a campaign to oust her.

The party is in the midst of a leadership review vote, which is required within six months of an election.

While May already has indicated she doesn’t intend to lead the party into the next election, she’s asking Green members to vote for her to stay on as leader until a new leader can be chosen.

Speaking with The Canadian Press on Tuesday, May said the movement to oust her is “inexplicable” since she already has said she’ll be stepping aside.

“In 2019, I stepped down and an interim leader was appointed and they did a great job, but the reality of an interim leader is it creates uncertainty in the public mind,” she said.

“We’re going to go into a leadership race soon anyway. You don’t want to be changing leaders every couple months.”

In a letter to members asking for their support, May said dropping her now would “create disruption and increase costs.”

May said she isn’t paid to be party leader and appointing an interim leader with a salary would burden the party as it works to pay off its debt from this year’s election. May said the party still owes about $600,000.

“I want to make sure that the next leader, or co-leaders, step into what we have right now, which is a unified party with great governance and a much healthier bank account than where we are now,” May said.

More than 40 party members are calling in an open letter for their fellow Greens to vote to remove May, saying it’s time for new voices and new ideas.

They say allowing May to stay on as leader would create confusion because she already has announced her intention to step aside.

“We’re frankly not confident that she actually intends to step down,” said Eric Gilmour, one of the organizers behind the campaign to oust May.

He said another factor is the time it takes to find a new leader, particularly in a minority government situation.

While May said the party’s council will be working on the leadership race rules, she couldn’t say when the race might get started. She said the party’s focus right now is getting out of debt by the end of the year.

“We really don’t know when the next election could be, and we believe that we need this time to find the leader,” Gilmour said. “When the new leader or co-leaders are elected, they need time to get settled, prepare for an election, stuff like that.

“So we have this runway to prepare for the next election, hopefully turn this party around.”

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press