May disputes claim that Green Party held back candidates for ‘strategic’ reasons

OTTAWA — Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May is refuting a claim that her party made a “strategic decision” not to nominate candidates in certain ridings.

She’s responding to the Leaders’ Debates Commission’s decision to rescind its invitation to Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault to participate in tonight’s debate.

The commission’s reasoning is that the Green Party has not fulfilled two of three criteria to participate: having candidates in 90 per cent of ridings, polling at four per cent support 28 days before election day and having at least one sitting MP at dissolution.

In an interview with Pedneault Radio-Canada published on April 15, he said candidates were held back in certain ridings, such as Nunavut.

May says this was a “misunderstanding” and she and Pedneault spent all day yesterday trying to explain it to the commission.

The Green Party has sent a letter to the commission asking to be reinstated in the French and English debates, the first of which begins in Montreal at 6 p.m. EDT.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2025

David Baxter, The Canadian Press