Atwin fallout forces a reckoning for Green Party’s future

When Annamie Paul became Green Party leader in October, one challenge she faced was how to define the party after it was led for more than a decade by Elizabeth May.

Even though climate advocacy is what the party is best known for, the Greens organize around several values, including non-violence, participatory democracy and social justice.

“Appalling anti-Semitism and discrimination from a range of political actors, beginning with Jagmeet Singh and Dimitri Lascaris, and many Liberal NDP and, sadly, Green MPs…

It could be a major blunder for Atwin, who, on the day after jumping ship to the Liberals, saw that the federal government was convening an emergency summit on antisemitism in direct response to criticism from Conservative MPs and a former Liberal MP that she was joining the caucus.

“There’s a lot more going on than just the Israel-Palestine issue,” Lascaris said.

“Our natural constituency is the progressive community,” said Lascaris.

It’s a topic that has clearly been on the mind of party members in recent weeks, too.

“We are in a desperate climate crisis so desperate measures are needed to avoid climate champions in both parties trying to defeat each other,” one member said, asking leadership to share the party’s position on the alliance.

“I think was open to collaboration with the NDP in the next election, which is not something well welcomed by the old guard of the party, I would say,” said Haddad.

…Read the full story