ǿմý

Skip to main content

Green Party seeks to overturn arbitrator's ruling to call off Paul's non-confidence vote

Share
Ottawa -

The Green Party of Canada is going to court to try to overturn a decision by an independent arbitrator to shut down a non-confidence vote on Annamie Paul’s future as leader.

In documents submitted Wednesday to the Ontario Superior Court obtained by CTV News, it states that Paul submitted a Notice of Request to Arbitrate on July 7, which included “an order to quash a non-confidence vote on her leadership,” scheduled to take place on July 20.

The arbitrator, Earl Cherniak, ordered on July 15 that a non-confidence motion would not proceed before the party’s general meeting in August and that the party must post this update to its website.

At an afternoon news conference on Sunday, Paul confirmed the vote was cancelled, and that no similar motions would be proposed by the current federal council, but didn’t indicate it was due to legal wrangling.

Paul’s office didn’t provide a response following a request for comment by CTVNews.ca.

Now, the party is arguing the arbitrator erred in judgment for a host of reasons.

First they state that while Paul’s employment agreement offers arbitration relief for disputes and controversies, that agreement is made with the Green Party of Canada Fund – the party’s legal and financial body – not the Green Party itself, so applying an arbitration order on the party is wrong.

“The arbitrator made an error in jurisdiction and therefore in law. The [order] purports to restrain the Green Party which is not a signatory to the Employment Agreement,” the documents read.

It also notes that the arbitrator sought to “limit the activities, decisions and communications of members and the membership of the Green Party.”

The nixed non-confidence vote by federal council would have required support from three-quarters of the 13-member governing body in order to proceed to a party-wide vote the following month at a general meeting, where an ultimate judgment on Paul's leadership could have been rendered by the grassroots.

With a file from The Canadian Press

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca ǿմý

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

Stay Connected