The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission says a settlement has been reached with the Green Party after it challenged its exclusion from the 2025 debates ahead of the general election.

The commission posted a brief statement on its website Tuesday.

“The Green Party of Canada and the Leaders’ Debates Commission have agreed to a mutual settlement of the Green Party of Canada’s application for judicial review arising from the federal leaders’ debates prior to the 2025 election,” the statement said.

The commission did not elaborate and said no further comment would be provided.

Green Leader Elizabeth May said in an interview that both sides agreed to the settlement, with the final decision made in the last few weeks. Neither side can discuss the details of the deal, she said.

“There’s nothing that can go back in time and create a time machine where we get in the debates,” she said, noting it’s not something a judicial review could rectify. “So the settlement is, from my point of view, a good result, but not justice under the circumstances.”

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In its submission to the federal court for judicial review, the Green Party said it wanted the court to declare that the commission violated principles of procedural fairness and that the decision was unreasonable. The party also requested that the commission forward a copy of documents it considered in reaching its decision.

Green Party executive director Robin Marty confirmed that the party spent about $23,400 in legal fees on the judicial review application.

The commission made the decision to remove the Green Party hours before the French-language debate on April 16, which meant that Jonathan Pedneault, the party’s co-leader at the time, could not participate.

It was one of several controversial calls the commission made related to the debates – changing the French debate start time because of a hockey game and cancelling scrums with reporters after the English-language debate.

Despite the legal challenge, Ms. May said she thinks the commission is important for Canada’s democracy and has spoken with Prime Minister Mark Carney about appointing a new commissioner. The organization has been without one since former governor-general David Johnston resigned in 2023.

In its April decision announcing the exclusion, the commission said the party had not fulfilled two of three conditions: Having candidates in 90 per cent of ridings, polling at 4-per-cent support 28 days before election day and having at least one sitting member of Parliament at dissolution.

The commission had previously approved the Greens’ participation based on the fact that the party had one sitting MP at dissolution, then-co-leader Ms. May, and had endorsed candidates in at least 90 per cent of ridings – which is 309 ridings – 28 days before the election.

In the end, only 232 Green candidates were formally nominated with Elections Canada.

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On April 13, Ms. May said the party had planned to run a full slate of candidates but struggled to gather the required signatures in a snap-election scenario. She also said Elections Canada returning officers made “different and sometimes inconsistent decisions” about accepting forms and signatures.

A few days later, Mr. Pedneault told Radio-Canada that it was a strategic decision not to run a full slate, noting the party decided not to send candidates to certain ridings, particularly where the Conservatives had a better chance at winning.

Asked at the time by The Globe and Mail about the seemingly contradictory statements, party spokesperson Rod Leggett called them “complementary.”

Regarding debate participation, Mr. Leggett said the chain of events reflected that the party had faced obstacles with Elections Canada.

“The rules had always given us some strategic wiggle room, which we are using,” he said at the time.

The Green Party will now encourage candidates to collect signatures as early as possible to avoid any last-minute scramble, Ms. May said.

With a report from The Canadian Press