Annamie Paul is stepping down as Green Party leader

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul announced today she is stepping down as leader of her party after its disastrous showing in the recent federal election, prompting a search for a new leader less than a year after the last one concluded.

Paul said she is leaving now because she can't bear to go through a fractious leadership review, a process that was formally launched Saturday by members eager to replace her after the party's poor showing in the 44th general election.

"I just asked myself whether this is something I wanted to continue, whether I was willing to put up with the attacks I knew would be coming, whether to continue to fight and struggle just to fulfil my democratically elected role as leader of this party," Paul told reporters at a Toronto press conference. "I just don't have the heart for it."

Paul, a bilingual former diplomat, was picked by members to take the reins of the party last October, becoming the first Jewish woman and Black person to lead a major federal political party.

She pushed to make the party more diverse and reflective of contemporary Canada but her time at the top will be remembered most for the internal squabbling that undermined her leadership and the party's electoral fortunes.

After posting its best result ever in the 2019 election, the resignation of its former leader Elizabeth May prompted soul-searching among the party's ranks as an ethnically and ideologically diverse group of candidates lined up to replace her.

Paul, a relative moderate, narrowly beat out an opponent who described himself as a "radical" and an "eco-socialist." Paul promised aggressive action on climate change and policies to address systemic discrimination.