Green party to elect new federal leader Saturday

This weekend, Green Party members from across the country will elect a new leader.

The leadership convention was supposed to be held in Charlottetown but because of COVID-19,the party downsized the convention, decided to bring members together virtuallyand relocatedthe event to Ottawa.

"The place should be just crawling with Greens right now," said Darcie Lanthier, a former Green party candidate and a member of the national conventionplanning committee.

"We were so looking forward to having the leadership convention here, but we are all adapting to these difficult times."

Eight candidates are seeking the nomination:

• Annamie Paul.

• David Merner.

• Amita Kuttner.

• Glen Murray.

• Dimitri Lascaris.

• Meryam Haddad.

• Andrew West.

• Courtney Howard.

Lanthier said the leadership hopefuls have had to be creative to get their messages out to members, given the restrictions in place because of the pandemic.

Elizabeth May was iconic in Canadian politics, she was literally the face of the Green Party. Don Desserud, UPEI

That is especially true in Atlantic Canada, where leadership members had no other choice butto reach out virtually or by phone with members.

"Those of us in Atlantic Canada, in the bubble, have been completely excluded from any sort of participation. So even if we weren't having the convention, we would have expected the leaders to be coming through, getting a chance to get acquainted with them, having them all spend some time here," she said.

"But because of the Atlantic bubbleif they came they'd have to isolate for 14 days, so in a campaign like this that completely ruled it out."

'Face of the Green party'

UPEI political science Prof. Don Desserudsaid whoever wins the leadership convention will have their work cut out for them. He said the pandemic restrictions, which forced most of the campaigning online, makeit that much harder to become known to Canadians and get that name recognition.

"Elizabeth May was iconic in Canadian politics, she was literally the face of the Green Party," said Desserud.

"The problem the Green Party has, which is fairly obvious, is getting whoever wins, their name, outin the public and getting people to know it."

The party will hold a farewell celebration for its outgoing leader Saturday at 7 p.m. AT. The party will then announce the results of the ranked ballot.

Green Party members plan to hold a small gathering in Charlottetown on Saturday night to watch the results. It will be at the Water's EdgeResto, Bar & Grill starting at 6:30 p.m., with COVID-19 gathering rules in effect.

Lanthier said she's confident whoever wins the leadership will be reaching out to the Maritimes, given the electoral success the party has seen in the region.

"I think you can expect to see a lot of Green Party energy, a lot of attention directed towards the Maritimes," she said.

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