Pages

Thursday, August 11, 2016

After the Greens adopted an antisemitic resolution, party leader Elizabeth May tells the CBC she may step down

BDS - the movement determined to put Palestinians out of work and make Israelis untouchables  

A few days ago – against the wishes of party leader Elizabeth May – the Greens passed an antisemitic resolution making itself the first officially racist party in Canada, and I called on May to resign (here).


Seems she heard me. According to the CBC, if she can't get this resolution reversed, she may indeed step down as leader.


From the CBC: Elizabeth May says she is questioning whether she can continue in her role as leader of the Green Party, after its members voted in favour of a resolution supporting sanctions against Israel, despite her own opposition to it.


The Greens became Canada's first federal party to endorse the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement during the party's biennial convention in Ottawa over the weekend. Some Canadian Jewish groups denounced the Green Party for supporting a boycott policy against Israel. The House of Commons condemned the movement in February.


"I'm struggling with the question of whether I should continue as leader or not, quite honestly," May told Rosemary Barton in an interview with The National.

BDS - the movement that picks on 13-year-old kids
"I'm quite certain most of our members don't support this policy, but weren't fully engaged in the consensus building process we normally would have had," she said.


"So if I can't find a way to bring that back and have the members review it with a consensus decision-making process, then I have to profoundly question whether I can continue as leader and that's obviously heart-breaking."


Elizabeth May says she's going to reflect on her role as leader of the Green Party after its members voted to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which she says is an 'extremely distressing' policy. (Green Party of Canada)
May added that a review could be possible if she stepped down as leader.


"One way to bring it forward is under our constitution if I step down, then we have to have a leadership convention sooner and they could deal with this issue," she said. "I mean there are other options that we are looking at that I'm trying to figure out if there's a way that… we can review this through some other mechanism."


"I don't have great answers for you now because I'm struggling with this," she said.


May had earlier said Tuesday morning in an interview with CBC Radio's On the Island she would take the next week off and "doing a lot of reflecting."


No comments: