Jonathan Pedneault has resigned as co-leader of the Green Party after acknowledging the “disappointing” outcome for the party in Monday’s election.
In a statement posted online Wednesday morning, Pedneault wrote that while he was proud of the party’s platform and the values it brought to the campaign, he took responsibility for the result — which saw him finish fifth in his own riding as the party lost incumbent MP Mike Morrice and decreased its share of the popular vote.
“Twice now, I have failed to convince my fellow citizens to send me to Ottawa,” Pedneault posted to X.
“I failed to secure the re-election of my colleague Mike Morrice, along with many other competent and good-hearted individuals who placed their trust in us.”
Pedneault returned to co-lead the Green Party with Elizabeth May in January after stepping down six months earlier, citing personal reasons.
He ran in the Liberal stronghold of Outremont in Montreal and lost to Liberal Rachel Bendayan, who secured 55 per cent of the vote.
In his first run as the Green Party’s co-leader, Pedneault finished fourth in a 2023 byelection in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount riding.
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The party fell to just 1.3 per cent national support in Monday’s election and didn’t run a full slate of candidates, despite endorsing 342 nominees to Elections Canada.
The party said it had trouble confirming all its nominees, in part due to the requirement that each nominee have 100 signatures from electors in their riding.
Pedneault told CBC News the party also strategically held back 15 candidates in ridings where they thought Conservative candidates might win.
The federal commission running the two televised election debates subsequently withdrew Pedneault’s invitation to participate in those debates, citing the decision to reduce the number of Green candidates “for strategic reasons.”
May said that decision undermined her party’s chances in the election.
“It was so devastating when he was pulled from the leaders debate the morning of,” May told The Canadian Press, adding she couldn’t talk Pedneault out of quitting.
“I do believe it was very closely related to him not being in the debates, that we didn’t achieve the electoral results we’ve been hoping for.”
May said Morrice’s loss in Kitchener Centre to Conservative candidate Kelly DeRidder by just 358 votes is something Pedneault took “really hard.”
“We never thought Mike Morrice would lose. Nobody thought a Conservative could win there. Ironically, it was the number of people who thought voting Liberal would somehow help Mark Carney, and they left their favourite MP to lose to a Conservative,” May said.
“We didn’t see it coming at all.”
May said she’ll stay on as leader and will undergo a mandatory leadership review after the election cycle is complete. She said the party now needs to turn its attention to its finances.
As the lone Green MP in the House of Commons, and with the Liberals three seats short of a majority, May said she’s confident she can get things done.
Asked if she’d consider formalizing an arrangement to support the Liberals, May said she’d act in the best interests of the country in dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I’ve talked to Mark Carney about how important it is to be ‘Team Canada’ but I’m always willing to work with others to make sure that we’re united as a country,” May said.
“It’s going to be always for me … country above party. So yeah, of course I’d work with the other leaders and the other parties in Parliament to make sure that there aren’t cracks that Trump can exploit in a divide-and-conquer effort.”
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