Lorraine Rekmans has quit as president of the Green Party, saying the “dream is dead.”
Rekmans took the job a year ago amid the party’s efforts to dump former leader Annamie Paul before the 2021 federal election.
The former Green Party president said she thought she could help the the fledging party “rise from the ashes” and transform into an “inclusive party.”
“Now I see that, for me, the dream is dead,” she wrote in a letter published by CBC. “I am exhausted and my optimism has died…To me, this signals an end to the (party).”
Trouble has been brewing in the party since former leader Elizabeth May resigned. After officially exiting the role, May continued to operate behind the scenes and appeared unwilling to relinquish control, according to reports.
Paul said she struggled with the leadership without support from the party. In June 2021, on the brink of an election, MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party, citing differing views between her and other party members on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, CBC reports.
During the election, The Counter Signal reported on one Green candidate for Calgary Signal Hill, Keiran Corrigall, frequently liked and retweeted the thirsty tweets of porn stars Gia DiMarco and Celeste Star.
Paul stepped down after the election.
“When I was elected and put in this role, I was breaking a glass ceiling,” she said at the time. “What I didn’t realize at the time is that I was breaking a glass ceiling that was going to fall on my head and leave a lot of shards of glass that I was going to have to crawl over throughout my time as a leader.”
Rekmans said her exit can partly be attributed to problems with the federal council. She also said there have been serious allegations of abuse and discrimination.
“I have resigned for principle. I had no confidence in the leadership contestants, and they had no confidence in me, and I lost confidence in (the) federal council,” Rekmans said.
Rekman’s concerns partly stem from the leadership race which launched about a week ago. During the virtual event, organizers labelled interim leader Amita Kuttner with “incorrect” pronouns on screen. Kuttner uses the pronouns they/he/ille.
