Astrophysicist Amita Kuttner has been chosen as interim leader of the Green Party of Canada.
Party spokesperson Benoit-Antoine Bacon told eNews Parkland on Saturday that former party leader Elizabeth May will remain a member of the party’s board, as well as chair of the Green Caucus. May was elected to both positions in February.
Green party spokesman Jack Todd said in a statement that Kuttner’s appointment was effective Friday.
May told The Canadian Press in April that the party would be suffering from “a leadership vacuum” without Kuttner as its leader.
Todd said in an email that Kuttner will be in Ottawa from Tuesday through Thursday, at which point she will step down. She will return to Cambridge, Ont., where she will lead the election in the province’s Ottawa-area ridings.
Bacon said in an email that any future Green Party of Canada leadership contests will be uncontested.
Kuttner was a champion of abolishing the Death Penalty, and served as an advisor to the National Alliance against Racism and Xenophobia. She has received many awards including the Science for Social Justice Award by the International Coalition of Women Against Racism.
Kuttner first announced her candidacy for leader in January. She told the CBC in May that she believed the Green Party of Canada needed “a fresh face to make sure we’re connecting with all Canadians as to what we stand for.”
May retired as the party’s leader last August after an election she said was being “manipulated.”