Elizabeth May, the Leader of the Federal Green Party, has stepped down as party leader.
At a press conference in Ottawa today, May said that her resignation is effective immediately. May has served as party leader since 2006.
May said she will continue to serve as a Member of Parliament and will be the parliamentary caucus leader.
She added that she promised her daughter that the 2019 election would be last as the figure-head of the party.
Despite suggesting that she would run for Speaker of the House of Commons last week, she said today that she will indeed not run and will remain on the opposition benches.
May said her fellow Green caucus mates wanted her to stay on as an MP to help hold the Liberal minority to account.
May will continue to push to make “massive” and “transformative” changes to Canada’s climate policy in the coming Parliament. She will also push the government to institute a national pharmacare plan.
May served as the lone Green MP for years, but this year’s election saw three members get elected. This was the Green Party’s best electoral result in history.
The 2019 election was the party's second-best showing under May's leadership. The party achieved 6.5 percent of the national vote, marginally less than the 6.78 percent the Greens won in the 2008 campaign.
Former journalist Jo-Ann Roberts will serve as the party's interim leader. May said the party will hold a leadership vote in October 2020 at a convention in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
