Green Party deputy leader stepping down for ‘personal reasons’

Green Party Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault announced Tuesday he’s stepping down, citing personal reasons.

He said it had been “the honour of a lifetime” to serve the country as part of a party he thinks exemplifies what politics should be about.

Pedneault broke the news alongside a “heartbroken” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in Ottawa.

“I’m not going to pretend I’m not unhappy,” May told reporters, “but I respect him.” 

May and Pedneault clinched the 2022 leadership campaign on the sixth ballot as one of the double-billed co-leadership tickets in the race, but had since been operating as leader and deputy leader respectively.

That’s because making a co-leader model official requires members to approve a change to the party’s constitution. That modification has yet to be made, amid internal debates and delays.

Pedneault – a human rights investigator, activist, and documentary maker – did run in the 2023 Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount, Que. byelection in hopes of securing a third seat in the House for his party, but placed fourth.

May said Tuesday she remains committed to pursuing the ability for the party to have a co-leadership model going forward, but for now will continue her work as the leader.

May is one of two Green MPs in the House of Commons. She represents Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C., a riding she’s held since 2011 when she became the party’s first elected Member of Parliament. Her seat-mate Mike Morrice represents Kitchener Centre, Ont.

After first stepping down after 13 years as leader in November 2019, May returned to the helm promising to re-unite the party and double-down on pushing for climate action.  

Her resumption of the role followed Annamie Paul’s brief but tumultuous tenure at the top of the party, as well as interim periods under the leadership of Jo-Ann Roberts and Amita Kuttner. 

Earlier this year, May spoke optimistically about the party’s prospects for 2024 and beyond. She predicted that come the next election her party would “surprise people with electing a lot more MPs than we’ve had in the past.”

Asked at the time why she thought the political landscape could generate different results for the Greens than in elections past, May said in her home province she is seeing a high degree of “disillusionment” with the Liberals and NDP, as well as “a lot of concern” about a Conservative government.

In last month’s Toronto-St.Paul’s byelection that delivered a stunning upset to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his party, the Green candidate Christian Cullis placed fourth.

May said Tuesday that she remains confident that the Green Party of Canada can, and will, attract more voters.  

This is a developing story, check back for updates…