Weak leadership is one of the reasons the former provincial Simcoe-Grey Liberal candidate is giving for swapping his red ties for Green.

Steven Fishman ran in last October's provincial election for the Liberals and has also served as the director of the federal Liberal Simcoe-Grey riding association.

"My decision to leave the federal Liberals was not an easy decision to make. As a person who believes strongly in leadership, I feel that Mr. Dion has not delivered in the area. Being a leader requires that you make the hard decisions and by having Mr. Dion let this Conservative government rule like they have a majority is not in the best interests of hard working Canadians," said Fishman.

Fishman said the federal Green Party has growing support. Under the leadership of Elizabeth May, he said the Green Party is the only federal party to increase support since the 2006 federal election.

He is looking forward to working with Simcoe-Grey Green Party candidate Peter Ellis, who Fishman ran against last fall.

"I am ecstatic to see that the groundswell of support for the Green Party is so strong that it brings such good quality former members of the opposition to our side, and in Steven's case I hope that we can convince him to run for the Green Party after the next federal or provincial election," said Ellis.