Don Martin: Without a quick resolution to their leadership crisis, the Greens will fade away
From the hospital bed where she is having a knee replacement, former leader Elizabeth May must be requiring extra medication to keep her blood pressure down as she watches her beloved Green Party implode.
The threatened reign of successor Annamie Paul is the most bizarre, messy and unfortunate political drama among many raging on Parliament Hill as MPs prepare for what sounds like an election campaign launch in late summer.
Ironically, a Green Party built on a crusading mandate to save an overheating planet is suffering internal combustion over another Middle East spat, which had been calmed down, at least until incendiary balloons started flying yesterday, by Israel and Hamas itself.
Yet that faraway feud seems to be at the heart of a Canadian party meltdown after pro-Palestinian Green MP Jenica Atwin quit to join the Liberals last week, this after the top aide of her pro-Israel leader attacked her “appalling anti-Semitism” and vowed to defeat her in the next election. Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
But that was just the beginning of this sordid drama as the Green Party’s national council this week gave Paul five weeks to denounce that aide, this before going all-out to attack her ‘autocratic attitude" "hostile superiority" and “aggressive monologues”, not to mention multiple failures of leadership in style and conduct.
You get the idea. Ouch. When even the minority of a party’s national governing council delivers that sort of furious tirade against their own leader’s behaviour after just eight months on the job, there’s serious trouble ahead. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
After her rebuttal news conference on Wednesday, you’d have to conclude the primary cause of Paul’s misfortune is Paul herself.
Too harsh? Let me count the ways.
To insist that the reaction by a majority of her own governing council, a group now decimated by resignations to the point of having no representatives east of Ontario, is rooted in prejudicially rejecting her as a black, Jewish, female leader seems incompatible with the attitude of Green members who, in my experience, tend to be the most inclusive of all political activists.
And to denounce their views as sexist and racist while refusing to discuss specifics raises questions about her handling of this existential crisis.
Meanwhile, she still refuses to condemn her former aide’s unfathomable attack on the party’s MPs over Middle East politics, surely knowing this must be done if she wants to remain as leader.
Then there was her declaration that the Green Party’s core priority is the transformation to diversity that she personifies. This apparently overshadows the party’s founding purpose, which is to advocate for ways to contain the damage of climate change, to foster the green economy and to advocate for cool-down planetary repairs.
It all seems hard to accept that a few individual prejudices are behind serious internal allegations of lousy leadership made by those who have seen her up close.
After all, we’re probably three months from an election. For determined Green supporters to toss out their leader at this stage is to accept their party’s death sentence at the polls.
What’s also concerning was how Paul revealed a startling disconnect from how things operate in the dirty world of politics at her news conference.
She denounced the Liberals for not being Green allies and being “hellbent” on winning a majority. What on Earth gave her the impression the Liberals and Greens were allies? Politics is a blood sport and winning an election, preferably with a majority mandate, is all that matters. With the Greens as an obstacle to Liberal majority ambitions, the gloves are off in their anything-goes bid for a knockout.
Mix together the council’s caustic views of their leader’s performance and the election-eve deadline for her to show behavioural remorse in order to avoid an ouster with that oh-so-strange news conference and you have the time-lapse of a political train wreck with no sign of survivors.
Annamie Paul could’ve and should’ve been the best thing to happen to the Green Party of Canada since the Arctic started melting and climate change became an urgent political priority.
Her racial and religious diversity as a woman leader are dream assets, not electoral liabilities, to inclusive-welcoming voters.
And the current electoral dynamics favoured her as a fresh-faced ballot box alternative as Justin Trudeau’s optics-only act grows stale, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s leadership fails to gel into wider electoral approval and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s campaign for government-provided everything-for-everyone positions become tiresome.
In a vote where “none of the above” sentiment about the major federal parties appears set to become widespread, the Greens under calm, competent, adult supervision may well have made scored gains.
But no more.
The overarching impression from the last two weeks is one of seriously-flawed leadership over a two-seats-and-falling, internally-fractured Green Party which will, unless things improve very quickly, need more than Elizabeth May campaigning on two good knees to carry it back.
That's the bottom line.
Correction
An earlier version of this story suggested the majority of the party’s governing council delivered a tirade. Instead, it was a minority.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he does not regret calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko,' and now his MPs are renewing calls for the House of Commons Speaker to resign, this time over ordering the Official Opposition leader to leave the chamber.
How can I tell if I have norovirus? Expert explains symptoms
The highly contagious norovirus is spreading across Canada, with some symptoms overlapping with other viruses. CTVNews.ca spoke with a health expert to find out how you can tell you have norovirus, the most common form of stomach flu, and what to do if you have it.
Doctors dealing with at least 160 Canadians suffering eye damage possibly linked to looking at the eclipse
Nearly a month after the total solar eclipse, at least 160 cases of eye damage have been reported across the country.
Ontario's police watchdog continues probe of high-speed pursuit involving fatal crash
The investigation continues into a collision that killed two grandparents and their infant grandchild during a high-speed police chase on the wrong way of Highway 401 east of Toronto.
Stranded cruise passengers in Spain race to catch up with their ship
A month after eight Norwegian Cruise Line passengers were stranded in Africa when their ship left without them because they were late getting back, a U.S. couple – ages 84 and 81 – were also left behind by the cruise line in Spain.
Blair says he couldn't sell cabinet on meeting 'magical threshold' of NATO target
Defence Minister Bill Blair says he couldn't convince the Liberal cabinet that Canada's government needed to meet NATO's spending target in its recent defence policy update.
BREAKING London Drugs stores remain closed for 4th straight day after 'cybersecurity incident'
Dozens of London Drugs stores in Western Canada remained closed for the fourth straight day following a "cybersecurity incident."
No criminal charges after 4 newborn bodies found in Boston freezer
A prosecutor in Massachusetts won't seek criminal charges against anyone, two years after four newborns were found in a freezer in a South Boston apartment.
Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows
Stress and anger can have a negative impact on cardiovascular health, studies have shown. New research points to just how the mechanism may work.
Local Spotlight
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fergus, Ont. man feels nickel-and-dimed for $0.05 property tax bill
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
Twins from Toronto were Canada's top two female finishers at this year's Boston Marathon
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.