Judy N Green is running for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada.
The Clementsport resident – who ran for the Green Party in the 2019 federal election in West Nova, placing third – announced her candidacy for the party’s federal leadership Friday at a Green Party event in Bear River.
At the time of her announcement on Jan. 24, Green was one of five declared candidates for the federal Green Party leadership and the only one from Atlantic Canada.
“When Elizabeth May stepped down as party leader and assumed the role of parliamentary (caucus) leader,” Green said, “she left a strong legacy and big shoes to fill. There has been much speculation as to who should lead the Green Party of Canada into the next election.”
After many post-election discussions with Greens and volunteers who had worked on campaigns across Canada, Green eventually decided to enter the race herself.
Also looking to become the next federal Green Party leader are David Merner of British Columbia, Julie Tremblay-Cloutier of Quebec, Alex Tyrrell, also of Quebec, and Constantine Kritsonis from Ontario.
“We do have some wonderful candidates putting their names forward,” Green said, “and I think it’s critical for participatory democracy that we have a full spectrum of candidates.”
The 57-year-old Green’s background is as an airframe technician in the Canadian Forces, a software engineer/consultant and a small business owner. She has a long list of volunteer positions and currently serves as first vice-president of the Digby Board of Trade, a board member on the Digby & Area Community Health Board and convener for the Green Party of Nova Scotia in the Fundy Shore region.
Green said she had never considered running for political office until last year’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Seeing the urgency of the climate change issue was her main reason for running in the 2019 election in West Nova.
She finished third, getting nearly 6,000 votes, about 12.7 per cent of the votes cast. In the previous election in 2015, the Green Party had just over 1,900 votes, less than 4.2 per cent of the votes cast.
“There’s a whole lot of grassroots revitalization going on within the party right now,” Green said. “The Green Party isn’t just on Vancouver Island, although they’re doing fabulous work out there, and I’m looking forward to meeting everybody. We have strong Greens right across Canada. We have our provincially elected Greens in P.E.I., New Brunswick, Ontario and B.C., of course. We want to be working together to get more Greens elected.”
The months ahead will be busy for Green as she travels and visits ridings across the country.
“I’d love to be able to get to all 338 electoral districts,” she said. “We will get to as many as we possibly can.”
The new federal Green Party leader will be chosen at a convention scheduled for early October in Charlottetown.
“We have friends in the area and we’ve already booked their spare room,” said Green, laughing.
