In other words, no traditional opportunity to look people in the eye, tell them who you are and what you stand for.
With the country back to where it was a year ago, firmly in the clutches of a deadly third wave of the pandemic, she faces the same problem now.
The polls show that the Greens would win about the same number of seats they have now in the next election.
Within the parliamentary system, the Greens were deprived of a consistent, daily platform, either in the House of Commons, or on committees.
The new leader wants to draw the partisan venom out of the current system, and replace it with a spirit of co-operation and collegiality.
Paul points out that the politics of winner-takes-all and loser either attacks 24-7, or shuts up, is as unnecessary as it is unproductive.
Another “really big commitment” of the new leader of the GPC is to recruit a more diverse slate of candidates for the next election.
She told the PM that it was “an exceptional opportunity” for Canada to adopt a co-ordinated green recovery plan, a renewable energy grid and a carbon border tariff structure shared with the U.S.
But her pitch also included a plea for a more team-driven approach to governing the country, particularly when it comes to fighting the pandemic.
And she left with one more thing; the impression that a fall election, rather than the extension of the current parliamentary session, was in the cards.
“I’m a pretty open-eyed kind of person, whether that’s from my legal training or policy training.
Despite the PM’s lukewarm response to her vision of politics, Annamie Paul has genuine and generous praise for Chrystia Freeland’s first budget.
First, Paul’s aforementioned sense that parliament won’t actually get to work on a lot of the good things the government is offering, because an election will intervene.
If Paul were ever to be brought in to work in collaboration with the government and other parties, as the Green Party of Norway is trying to do, she would bring no shortage of ideas.
“The pandemic has lasted longer than it should have, we’ve had more dead and more sacrifices as a result.
Her father died in a long-term care facility during the first wave of the pandemic, though not of COVID.
The situation was so desperate that the University Health Network temporarily took over management from the facility’s owners, Sienna Living.
And that in turn leads to tragic outcomes for both residents and workers in these facilities.
Paul also has a lot to say about another health care crisis that didn’t show up in the federal budget, despite a record spike in opioid-related deaths across Canada, aggravated by the pandemic.
Paul is also keenly aware that although the pandemic has eclipsed every other file of the federal government, the deadliest global threat of them all, global warming, remains.
But I know we have been asked to improve our target for a very long time, the science is clear, and the UN and our global partners have been asking for higher targets.
But it doesn’t all come down to political style, or the party platform.
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