Politics

Green Party candidate in Quebec attacks leader Annamie Paul in Facebook post

The Green Party candidate in the Quebec riding of Beauport–Limoilou called leader Annamie Paul "a disgrace" and vowed to launch a leadership run to replace her.

Dalila Elhak says she will run to replace embattled Green leader

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul launches her 2021 election campaign at a press conference in the riding of Toronto Centre on Aug. 15. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

A Green Party candidate in Quebec called leader Annamie Paul "a disgrace" in a Facebook post Friday afternoon, the latest attack from within the party directed at the embattled leader.

Dalila Elhak, who is running under the Green banner in Beauport–Limoilou, said in French that she intends to launch a leadership run with the hope of eventually replacing Paul.

"This person is a disgrace to the Green Party, and it was not for nothing that she was asked to resign," a translated version of the post reads.

A spokesperson for the Green Party said they weren't offering any comment at this time.

In an interview with CBC Calgary News at 6 host Andrew Brown on Friday, Paul expressed disappointment with the post.

"I'm very sorry to hear that — that's extremely unbecoming of any candidate for our party," she said.

"I'm trying to do what is most important right now, which is to try to get Greens elected all over the country ... that's my focus at least."

Elhak's post links to an article about an incident on Thursday in which Paul accidentally endorsed the Liberal Party's plan on climate change during a speech. Both Paul and her campaign later clarified that she had misspoken.

In an email to CBC News, Elhak expressed dissatisfaction with Paul's leadership in a number of areas, and said that Paul is focusing too much on campaigning in Toronto Centre — the riding she's running in.

"After the election campaign began, Annamie decided to abandon the Green candidates across the country to focus on her own campaign in Toronto Centre," Elhak said.

WATCH | Why Annamie Paul hasn't campaigned outside of Toronto:

Why the Green Party Leader hasn’t campaigned outside of Toronto

3 years ago
Duration 2:00
A look at why Annamie Paul, the leader of the divided Green Party, has yet to venture out of Toronto weeks into a federal election campaign.

Elhak also cited Paul's mistake during the speech.

"Regarding her slip, it is her subconscious that spoke to confirm that she is not in the right place," she said. "It is ironic that we are in the middle of the campaign, we have 17 days left to promote our program and the leader of the Greens is calling on voters to vote for the Liberals and their $ 4 billion pipeline."

In her Facebook post, Elhak goes on to say she will seek the leadership and communicate exclusively in French. She also ran for the Greens in the riding in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections.

It's the latest internal setback for Paul, who spent months before the campaign trying to fend off attempts from some factions of the party to remove her as leader. The back-and-forth between Paul and her detractors intensified when former Green MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor to the Liberals in June, and the party's federal council even discussed revoking Paul's membership

Clarifications

  • This story has been updated from a previous version that said the back-and-forth between Paul and her detractors began when former Green MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor to the Liberals. In fact, Atwin attributed her departure to existing distractions within the party, including internal disagreements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    Sep 05, 2021 11:21 AM ET

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