Kathryn Holloway - Political Life

Political Life

Holloway was a staff organizer for the Green Party of Canada (GPC) during the 2004 election. She also ran as a parachute candidate against incumbent Liberal Party Member of Parliament Derek Lee in the riding of Scarborough-Rouge River.

Funded with speculative loans from Vancouver businessman Wayne Crookes, the Green Party ran candidates in all ridings in the 2004 election. This entitled them to claim millions of dollars in federal funding under the recently passed Bill C-24. At the subsequent Green Party of Canada leadership convention in 2004, Holloway was elected to the party's national executive (Federal Council) as Fundraising Chair with 91% of the vote, and subsequently sat on three financial Committees of Council.

While on Council she co-founded the Green Party Women's Caucus and the Green High Riding School, a candidate organizing school assisting provincial candidates and riding associations with fundraising, policy development, and organizing.

In January 2005, Green Party of Canada leader Jim Harris called for an in camera session of Federal Council and moved a motion to remove Kathryn Holloway from the GPC council, resulting in Holloway's suspension. No reason was provided to her, and she was refused a copy of the meeting minutes, although she requested that they be published to the membership. She subsequently published internal Council emails herself showing her objection to a suggested incorporation of the party's finances (the GPC Fund) that she alleged left them out of the Party's democratic control. In June 2005, Holloway was acclaimed by her riding association as the candidate for the GPC in Toronto Centre. However, her nomination was suddenly blocked without explanation by party organizers. Stating frustration, Holloway resigned from the Green Party Council and from her Toronto Centre nomination. Within the next week several other prominent national executive members and candidates followed suit, accusing Harris of mismanaging the Party.

Holloway returned to active participation in the GPC in May 2006 as a key supporter of leadership candidate Elizabeth May, hosting a Toronto meet-and-greet for May's campaign. On August 27, 2006, despite a very active campaign against her by Harris and Crookes, Holloway was elected again to GPC Council, this time as Chief Agent, with 69% of the vote. In October 2006 the GPC fully rescinded Holloway's 2005 suspension and all other previous sanctions against former GPC Federal Councillors. Crookes however had in the meantime filed numerous lawsuits against his critics within the party, some of whom accused him of engaging in libel chill. Holloway was also served with a lawsuit by Crookes, simply for facilitating online forums or wikis where such criticisms of Crookes had taken place. With Yahoo and PBwiki, Holloway filed a combination of countersuits and jurisdictional challenges against Crookes. With various other defendants, she also set up a defense fund in 2007 to protect free political speech on the Internet.

Holloway had meanwhile moved on politically. On December 8, 2006, she resigned from the Green Party to join the Liberal Party. Her resignation letter stated that core values between the two parties were not dissimilar, and that she intended to support Toronto Liberals in the wake of Stéphane Dion's election as Liberal Party of Canada Leader.

On August 10, 2007, Holloway was appointed by Premier Dalton McGuinty as the Ontario Liberal candidate for the 2007 provincial election in the riding of Trinity-Spadina. She finished in second place behind NDP incumbent Rosario Marchese with 14,170 votes, or 32% of the popular vote, cutting Marchese's winning margin by over 2,000 votes from the previous election.

"I’ll be back in 2011 and we’ll take this riding. We had a late start — I was the last (Liberal) candidate nominated in Toronto — but great momentum over the last week. This was an 11th hour run but we still made a big impact. We narrowed the gap from last time. Next time, we can bring it home," said Holloway.

On June 28, 2010, Holloway appeared on the current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin for a special episode concerning brutality during the G20 summit held recently in Toronto. Holloway's son, a bystander, had been detained for 24 hours during the summit without being charged with anything. On the program, Holloway spoke out strongly against the abrogation of civil liberties during the G20.