Green leader will skip the campaign trail to focus on winning her own seat in Toronto

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This article was published 15/08/2021 (1131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — While other party leaders plan to tour the country to court votes from Canadians, the Greens’ Annamie Paul says she will spend most of the federal election campaign in a single location: downtown Toronto.

It’s a sign Paul and her team see victory in Toronto Centre — the Liberal stronghold where she has already lost two elections — to be vital for her survival as Green leader.

That effort received at least a short-term boost on Monday night, after the party’s top governing body voted to postpone the Greens’ national convention that was slated to begin on Friday to “mid-November,” party spokesperson Rosie Emery confirmed by email.

The move extinguishes any chance Paul could face a vote that ends her leadership during the federal election campaign. Under Green party rules, she must face such a vote within six months after voting day on Sept. 20.

The only way Paul could now be removed as leader before then is if officials revive a review of her Green membership that was put on hold by an independent arbitrator until at least this Thursday. Party rules say a member under review can’t represent the Greens “in any capacity.”

Speaking earlier in downtown Toronto, Paul said she needs to focus on her own riding because the Greens — founded in 1983 — are a “relatively young” and “start-up” party that needs to work harder to win in federal politics. She also likened the strategy to how former Green leader Elizabeth May campaigned before she had a seat in Parliament, although May did stage a “whistle-stop” tour by train across the country when she didn’t have a seat in the 2008 election.

“The thing about Toronto Centre is that the policies and the positions that the Green party wants to spend the most time talking about in this election can be talked about here,” Paul said, referring to climate change and the need for better government programs to support people.

“I’m going to be talking about national issues that are going to inform our national campaign,” she said. “I’m able to do it from here, and the reality of being a Green is that I will mostly need to do it from here.”

The decision to hunker down where Paul is fighting for a seat comes after months of party infighting, threats to her leadership, and a warning last month from top party officials that the federal organization was nearing a financial “tipping point” at which it would no longer be possible to run an effective national election campaign.

At the time, officials said the party had less than $300,000 in the bank and questioned whether it could borrow enough money to finance an election campaign. Embroiled in a legal battle over efforts to depose Paul through a confidence vote and review of her Green membership, the party had also spent $100,000 legal fees at that point and had set aside another $100,000 for that purpose, the officials said.

The Star also reported this summer that the party was planning not to hire a national campaign chair, citing a lack of finances.

And the party never transferred $250,000 its top governing body earmarked for Paul’s campaign in Toronto Centre for the months prior to the federal election.

The party’s interim executive director, Dana Taylor, did not respond to an interview request or questions sent by email about the situation on Monday, including whether the party has a national campaign manager and whether it received a bank loan for the election.

The party would only confirm that the Greens had so far nominated 144 candidates for the Sept. 20 election.

The party has also recalled at least two Green employees who were laid off in July from Paul’s office, the Star has confirmed.

But while questions remain about the party’s finances for a national campaign, Paul’s riding association in Toronto Centre has raised enough money for its own local election effort, according to a senior Green source who spoke on condition they aren’t named.

The source said Paul’s campaign already has enough money in the bank to spend as much as possible under Elections Canada rules. In the 2019 byelection where Paul placed second to Liberal candidate Marci Ien, the spending limit was slightly more than $100,000.

The source, however, declined to discuss how much Paul might participate with the central party in a national campaign for the election.

“We are laser-focused on success in Toronto Centre,” they said.

With files from Raisa Patel

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga