Former Green MP Mike Morrice announces he's running to be party's next leader

Morrice lost his seat in Kitchener Centre in April 2025 to Conservative Kelly DeRidder

Former Green MP Mike Morrice says he's one of two approved candidates for his party's leadership.

Morrice made an announcement Wednesday morning that he has officially entered the race. He was in downtown Kitchener's TheMuseum.

"Having served as a [member of parliament] already at a time when the party is looking for a leader in Canada as life continues to get more expensive for so many folks, I just believe that the party can be a vehicle for confronting the billionaire class and addressing the issues that ordinary folks both in our community and across the country continue to face," Morris told CBC News about why he's running for the party's leadership position.

Morrice served for one term as the MP for the Ontario riding of Kitchener Centre but lost his seat in the April 2025 federal election. Conservative Kelly DeRidder beat Morrice by 358 votes.

Mike Morrice joins the race for party leadership

On November 28, 2025, Morrice was named deputy leader of the federal Greens and has already been declared the Green candidate for the next federal election, whenever it will be held.

"The way we grow the membership is the same way we're gonna grow a green caucus in Ottawa," he said.

"It's by working alongside other progressives to build a movement of people who are ready to confront the billionaire class and the way they have been hoarding wealth over the last many years, as well as the political leaders who have incentivized that happening all the way along, which continues to the prime minister of the day now."

The Green Party of Canada officially launched its five-month leadership race on June 11.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May announced in the summer of 2025 she planned to step down but will remain on as leader until November.

May is currently the only Green MP in the House of Commons. She was first elected leader of the Green Party in 2006. She stepped down in 2019 after Annamie Paul was elected. May became the party leader again in 2022.

Elizabeth May to step down as leader of the federal Green Party — eventually

Prospective candidates had until July 17 to apply. Morrice is going against the only other candidate in Nira Dookeran, a teacher who has been a candidate for the party in previous elections in the riding of Ottawa South.

A press release ahead of the February 2025 Ontario election noted Dookeran was a provincial candidate in 2022 and has volunteered with the Ontario Green Party for more than 10 years, managing federal and provincial campaigns.

Dookeran's candidate page in the Green Party of Canada's website writes that the leadership race "comes at a defining moment" in the party’s history.

"Electoral stagnation, centralized decision-making, and an increasingly unclear public identity have brought us to a crossroads. What we choose now will shape the next decade of federal Green politics," Dookeran's candidate page continued.

It's a statement that Morrice agrees with, saying that he shares "a lot in common" with his fellow Green candidate.

"We have common values and that's what's most important," he said. "Nira has run many times as a Green before and she's the kind of person we need to ensure continues to run for the party going forward as well."

Voting for the next Green Party of Canada leader will take place from Nov. 2 to 13. Results are expected to be announced on Nov. 14.

John Dalusong is a journalist for CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. Have a story? Reach him at john.dalusong@cbc.ca.