Some current and former Greens say Elizabeth May's leadership isn't as black-and-white as the party has made it seem ahead of this weekend's convention in Toronto.

May's four-year term was supposed to end later this month. The party announced last week that its members had voted to keep her in the job until the next time Canadians vote.

But some Greens say May's hold on the top job until the next time Canadians vote is not yet a fait accompli.

They say Greens in Toronto still have to ratify the motion to keep May in the job, and until they do there remains a slim chance of a leadership race.

Blogger Jack Locke, who tried unsuccessfully to become the Green candidate in a Montreal riding two years ago, accused the party of misrepresenting the pre-convention vote.

He says the wording of a news release on the Green party's website makes it seem as if the motion to put off a leadership review is a done deal.

The release says: "The membership also voted by a wide margin to revise the constitutional rules regarding a leader's term, moving from fixed four-year terms, to a mandatory leader review following every federal election."

Not quite, says Locke.

"You say that the thing has been passed when it has not been passed, and that the convention is just supposed to rubber-stamp the results because it's a done deal," he said.

"Well, that's not the way conventions normally work."

May says that's splitting hairs.

"Press releases don't necessarily describe the minutiae of decision-making," she said.

Greens decide before the convention which motions they support, which ones they oppose and which ones they want to talk about more.

Any motion that gets more than 60 per cent support before the convention is considered passed.

So it's unlikely Greens will vote for a leadership race since the motion to put off such a contest until after the next election got 74 per cent support in a pre-convention vote.

And 85 per cent of Greens voted to support May's leadership.

The turnout in Toronto this weekend is expected to be far less than the number of Greens from across the country who voted ahead of the convention.

Convention co-chair John Streicker, the party's Yukon candidate, says some Greens want a leadership race.

"The support amongst the membership of the Green party is strong for Elizabeth, but there's also some interest to see us go to a leadership race," Streicker told Yukon radio station CHON.

Another motion had been put forward to call a leadership race before the end of October. But that motion didn't get enough support in pre-convention voting.

Potential leadership rival Sylvie Lemieux says there's still a chance that motion could get debated in Toronto.

"A lot of people that are coming to the convention are maybe the hard-core people that make this party, because obviously they have to pay for their own way," she said.

"I'm hoping that if they decide to spend their own time and resources, that they're coming to have a great discussion to equip the party with better tools for the future."

May acknowledges there's a slim chance Greens on the convention floor could vote down the motion to keep her on as leader.

But she says doing so would go against what most Greens voted for.

"I don't think there would be anybody who supported me as leader, certainly no one I know of, who would try to make the case that the majority of members should be overruled by a smaller group of members at the convention," May said.

"I would have liked to have thought that that was a foregone conclusion of how anyone would receive the vote, but apparently not."

Locke, who is no longer a member of the party but has friends who are, said he expects the confusion over the leadership issue will upset and maybe even anger some Greens at the convention.

"It's quite likely that the people at the convention could very well be very upset with what's transpiring here," he said.