Green Party leader Annamie Paul says there’s “no infighting” happening inside her party, despite the newest revelation that the legal system is now involved in the continued dispute.
“I’m not feuding with anyone. I’m not looking for to. There isn’t any infighting occurring,” Paul said, talking to reporters on Thursday.
“This is admittedly a one-sided attack.”
Paul said that recent attempts to oust her as leader have come from a small group throughout the Green Party‘s governing body, the federal council, and that those spearheading the conflict are on their way out the door.
“This was not an motion sanctioned by our federal council. It will not be an motion that got here before our federal council. And so I’m asking people to simply have patience as we transition,” Paul said.
“We’re in an enormous transition. Most of our councillors may have their terms expiring next month. I’m very excited to work with our next group of councillors, and I’m not going to be distracted any farther from really the work that must be done.”
Her comments come on the heels of the news that the party is involved in legal proceedings related to the party’s internal turmoil.
An email was sent to all Green Party members confirming the legal proceedings on Wednesday.
“We’re writing to tell you that the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Canada Fund have filed an application within the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario. The appliance pertains to certain internal proceedings of the Federal Council and the Executive Director related to the Leader of the Party,” read the e-mail, which was obtained by Global News.
“We understand that the Leader is of the view that the Party is sure by certain rules of confidentiality, which we dispute. As such, we is not going to be providing you with further details regarding the character of the proceedings at the moment.”
While the e-mail provided not one of the specifics of the case, it gave the whole lot of the party’s membership the case number — and informed them the documents referring to the case are publicly available.
Speaking Thursday, Paul wouldn’t say whether she intends to file a response in court to the applying.
“I’m not looking for to litigate or to debate anything of this nature in these forums. I don’t think that is acceptable,” she said.
“This news could be very recent and I shall be considering it. I shall be serious about what’s best.”
The notice of application, which was obtained by Global News, was filed Wednesday within the Ontario Superior Court.
Within the documents, the party and the Green Party of Canada Fund — a separate entity that controls the party’s funds — claim an arbitrator exceeded his authority when he required party executives to quash the non-confidence vote that was set to happen against Paul on Tuesday. In addition they claimed the arbitrator overstepped by quashing the review of Paul’s party membership.
“As an unincorporated association, the party has no legal capability to enter right into a financial employment contract,” the applying reads. “Only the Fund may incur expenses and due to this fact enter into an employment contract.”
The arbitrator “erred in law” because he had no authority to impose orders on an entity that’s unconnected with Paul’s contract, the filings argue.
Paul won the leadership in October of last 12 months with 54 per cent of the vote on the eighth ballot. Paul’s 12,090 votes allowed her to tug ahead of runner-up Dimitri Lascaris in a race that saw 69 per cent of party members vote.
But lower than two months after taking on on the party’s helm, Paul began experiencing internal bumps within the road. At the tip of November 2020, the party’s federal council was sent a letter that alleged a “pattern of poor governance” throughout the Green Party.
The interior turmoil burst out from behind closed doors when former Green MP Jenica Atwin crossed the ground to hitch the Liberal Party on June 10, slamming the infighting among the many Greens over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “distraction” on her way out.
Paul, nevertheless, said Atwin’s departure from the party was the results of conversations that predated this 12 months’s flare-up of violence between Israel and Hamas.
Some members of the Green Party’s governing body, the federal council, held a former advisor of Paul’s chargeable for Atwin’s defection from the Greens to the Liberals. They demanded that she repudiate him — and if she rejected the request, they said they’d conduct a non-confidence vote.
Nonetheless, Paul dodged that bullet when party members opted to call off the potential vote.
Elizabeth May, who’s currently one among the Greens’ only two MPs, also got here to Paul’s defence in a Tuesday statement.
“I stepped down as leader of the Green Party lower than two years ago, despite our greatest ever leads to electing three MPs, knowing it was time for brand new leadership,” she said in an announcement. “That recent leader is Annamie Paul.”
— with files from Global News’ Eric Stober and The Canadian Press
