Former Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is preparing to run for the federal Green Party leadership, according to sources within the party..May began collecting the required signatures from party members to apply as a candidate in the race ahead of the August 5 deadline..A source told the Toronto Star May plans to pitch herself as a co-leader alongside Jonathan Pedneault, a former human rights worker who also intends to run for leader..The MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands became party leader in 2006, but stepped down after the 2019 federal election. Sources with direct knowledge of party affairs said May was under pressure to step down at the time, though May insisted it was her decision alone..The Green party struggled financially in the wake of a period of divisive infighting in 2020. After Annamie Paul became leader of the party in October 2020, she became embroiled in arguments with party officials. Paul accused her opponents of racism and sexism, while they claimed Paul had poor communication and leadership skills..Paul stepped down on November 14 after failing to win a seat in Toronto Centre during the 2019 federal election. She came in fourth place in the riding, behind even the Conservative candidate..May was accused by some, including Paul's senior advisor Noah Zatzman, of using her influence over the party to sabotage Paul's candidacy. May repeatedly denied doing so, telling the Hill Times that the allegations were "completely untrue.".In the months since Paul's resignation, the Green Party continued bleeding money. The party warned in its annual report this month it might need to mothball its headquarters in downtown Ottawa and freeze spending..Although May claimed on the eve of Paul’s election as leader in 2020 that she might one day return to fill the role, she since rejected the idea. Last fall, she wrote in the Toronto Star her future in the party was as a Green MP, and that it was "not appropriate for me to fill a leadership role.”.But in a recent email to the Toronto Star, May said she believes the party’s leadership rules mean she can’t “discuss any potential candidates” before approved contenders are announced on August 31, and said she would "talk then.".Pedneault declined to comment, but also did not deny planning to run as May’s potential co-leader..Noah Zatzman, who was a senior advisor for Paul, reacted to the news of May running for leader by saying she "makes Machiavelli look like an amateur."."She sabotaged Canada’s first black federal leader, and we always knew why…this is absolutely appalling," he said on Twitter.
