Five times the Green Party made news during federal election debates

OTTAWA – The Green party will no longer participate in federal leaders’ debates this week after the Leaders’ Debates Commission determined it had failed to meet the criteria for inclusion.

In the past the party has added some flavour and even colour commentary to national leaders’ debates, whether it was invited on the stage or not.

Here are five times the party or its leaders made news during federal election debates:

1. May says Tory candidate called her a “cow”

At a local debate in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands this week, co-leader Elizabeth May said her Conservative opponent, Cathie Ounstead, called her a “cow.”

“Wow, she just called me a cow and said I lied to her,” May said, leading to boos from the audience as she and Ounstead had a back-and-forth on the stage.

“Because she just said to me that I fly every weekend,” Ounstead said.

CHEK News reported the tiff came after May told Ounstead she might not want to be an MP because she’ll miss her son’s football games — something Ounstead told a local outlet she travels for a lot.

“I obviously shouldn’t have said anything to her at all, but I certainly never thought she’d take offence to what I said. Nor did I think she’d attack me,” May told the outlet.

“I certainly didn’t say anything that I thought was unpleasant or untoward, and her response was certainly very unpleasant.”

2. Paul tells Bloc leader to “get educated”

Former Green leader Annamie Paul and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet got into a testy exchange during the 2021 English-language debate, with Paul telling him he needs to know more about systemic discrimination.

The exchange occurred during a discussion about Quebec and systemic racism regarding a law known as Bill 21, which bans public-sector employees from wearing religious symbols while working. Blanchet said allegations of racism and xenophobia are being used against his province in discussions about the bill. 

“I invited Mr. Blanchet to get educated about systemic discrimination,” Paul said.

3. Paul says Trudeau isn’t a “real feminist”

At the same debate, Paul took a shot at then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, saying she didn’t consider him a “real feminist” because he lost high-profile female cabinet ministers during his tenure.

Trudeau responded with a reference to internal battles the Greens were fighting at the time.

“I won’t take lessons on caucus management from you,” he said.

4. May live-tweets a debate to which she wasn’t invited

May failed to snag an invitation to a debate hosted by the Globe and Mail newspaper during the 2015 election campaign. She instead took to Twitter, now known as X, to respond to her fellow party leaders’ statements and pitch her case to Canadians.

From fact-checking former prime minister Stephen Harper to highlighting topics she said were being excluded, May sought to insert herself into the national conversation, with hundreds of supporters cheering her on at a Victoria church where she filmed her responses.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

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5. May shakes hand with empty podium

When Trudeau chose to host a rally rather than talk policy with federal party leaders at a debate hosted by Maclean’s magazine and Citytv in 2019, the outlets decided to not remove the podium reserved for him from the stage, opting instead to leave it empty. 

May, who had publicly criticized Trudeau for being a no-show, added spice to her words by marching up to the empty podium and pretending to shake Trudeau’s invisible hand.

A photo of the imagined encounter accompanied media stories about the debate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2025.