Elizabeth May
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Evans May, OC, MP (born June 9, 1954) is an American-born Canadian
Member of Parliament
, environmentalist
, writer
, activist, lawyer
, and the leader of the Green Party of Canada
. She was the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada
from 1989 to 2006. She became a Canadian citizen in 1978.
May's permanent residence is in Sidney, British Columbia
. Her family home is in Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton Island
. On May 2, 2011, she became the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada, defeating the incumbent, Gary Lunn
.
to a British father and American mother; she has a younger brother named Geoffrey. Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and one of the original founders of the peace group SANE, while her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty.
May attended Renbrook School
and the prestigious Miss Porter's School
in Farmington, Connecticut
. Her family was rooted in the Welsh Congregationalist
tradition of free thinking on religious beliefs.
The family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia
in 1972 following a summer vacation spent on Cape Breton Island
. On moving to the province, the May family purchased and restored a land-locked schooner
, the Marion Elizabeth, in which a restaurant and gift shop was housed. Although the business had been closed for several years before being purchased by the Mays, it became a popular spot along the Cabot Trail
. Launched in 1918, and named after the wife and daughter of the ship's first captain, the Marion Elizabeth was the only authentic Bluenose fishing schooner, and was built by the Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
firm Smith and Rhuland. Farley Mowat
also gave the Mays his schooner, the Happy Adventure, which was featured in his book, The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float, and was displayed next to the gift shop. The restaurant and gift shop operated from 1974 until 2002 when the property was expropriated for an expanded highway bridge carrying Route 19
across the Margaree River
.
in 1974, but had to leave when she didn’t have enough money for tuition. Returning to Margaree, she took correspondence courses in restaurant management. Beginning in 1980, she worked her way through Dalhousie Law School
as a mature student, graduating with an LLB in 1983, with then Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton
, writing her a letter of reference.
multinational Stora
owned the local pulp and paper mill and held licenses to harvest the forests of eastern Nova Scotia. Stora wanted the government to pay for spraying the now-banned, organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion
to counter the epidemic of spruce budworm
. Within months the provincial government agreed to cancel the permits due to health concerns. The budworm outbreak later collapsed of natural causes. The issue was the subject of Elizabeth May's first book, Budworm Battles, as well as CBC
program The Fifth Estate
in a segment called “Miss May's War”, and a National Film Board
documentary called Budworks.
Joe Clark
's budget, May launched a political party to raise environment and anti-nuclear issues. The party, dubbed "the Small Party" and based on the ideas in E.F. Schumacher's
book, Small is Beautiful
, ran 12 candidates in 6 provinces, in the 1980 federal election
. They made no pretense of attempting to win seats, calling the effort a “beau geste” to raise awareness. May, at the time a 25-year-old waitress, ran against the former Deputy Prime Minister, Allan J. MacEachen in Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
. She placed fourth in a field of four candidates receiving 272 votes.
mining. It succeeded when the provincial government announced a moratorium
. She was also very active in the effort to stop approval of the Point Lepreau
nuclear plant in New Brunswick.
In 1982, the Nova Scotia government of Conservative Premier John Buchanan
re-approved the spraying of forests with the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Those same chemicals, in 50-50 combination, were known as Agent Orange
and had been used as defoliants during the Vietnam War
. All of the major pulp and paper companies in Nova Scotia received permits to spray the herbicides to kill hardwood trees and shrubs. May was between her second and third year of law school when the permits were granted, and began organizing to stop the spraying. The government announced it would convert the spray permits from aerial to ground spray. A total of 17 local residents went to court to stop the spraying. May's role was as both plaintiff and as volunteer lawyer. The plaintiffs received an interim injunction in August 1982 that prevented the spraying. Following the initial hearing, the case against Scott Paper was rejected. That initial decision resulted in a bill of costs against the plaintiffs for $15,000. May's mother sold 80 acres of family land to cover the costs to Scott Paper.
The trial of the 17 plaintiffs against Stora, reported as Vicky Palmer et al v. Stora Kopparberg, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Trial Division, was heard over the month of May 1983. Mr. Justice Merlin Nunn ruled that the chemicals were not dangerous and had not caused health effects in Vietnam. By the time the judgment came down, the chemicals were no longer available for use in Canada. On behalf of the plaintiffs, Elizabeth May and Chief Ryan Googoo of the Mikmaq First Nation traveled to Sweden
to raise funds and support for an appeal. The tour of Sweden gained support for the Nova Scotians opposed to Agent Orange, with Prime Minister Olof Palme
endorsing their cause. While they were away, the pulp company pressured the other plaintiffs to drop the appeal and accept a settlement. In the settlement, Stora insisted that, while other plaintiffs and lawyers could be reimbursed for their costs, the May family would not. The herbicide case is documented in an National Film Board
film called Herbicide Trials.
to accept the position of Associate General Counsel to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. During this time May helped found the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund
with the aim of funding groups and individuals in environmental cases. She was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1984, and the Law Society of Upper Canada
in 1989.
In 1986, Elizabeth May was recruited by the federal Minister of Environment, Tom McMillan
to provide environmental policy advice. As Senior Policy Advisor, May worked on many critical environmental issues. She was involved in the negotiation of agreements with the seven Eastern provinces and with the U.S. to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions in order to combat acid rain
, writing new legislation, the creation of five new national parks, the negotiation of the Montreal Protocol
to protect the ozone layer
, the clean-up of the Great Lakes
, and the first agreement to clean up the Sydney Tar Ponds
.
In June 1988, she discovered that the minister had broken the law approving permits for two dams in Saskatchewan
(Rafferty and Alameda
dams on the Souris River
) without environmental review. She resigned on principle, but did not make her reasons for resignation public. In September, the Winnipeg Free Press
broke the story of her resignation on the front page, unleashing a storm of anger from Manitoba
residents, who were downstream from the Souris. The day after the story broke, the Manitoba Legislature held an emergency debate on the issue. The Canadian Wildlife Federation
brought a lawsuit against the decision to grant permits without environmental review. The Federal Court of Canada ruled the permits had been granted illegally.
May received praise from David Suzuki
for her work on Quttinirpaaq National Park
(known as Ellesmere National Park prior to February 19, 2001), Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
(previously the South Moresby National Park Reserve, it was renamed on February 28, 1996), Grasslands National Park
and the ozone protocol files. She resigned, in 1988, from her post after learning that the government's plan for Grasslands National Park meant granting permits for the Rafferty-Alameda Project in Saskatchewan
without performing environmental assessments in exchange for the parkland and the translation of Saskatchewan's statutes into French
.
of the Sierra Club of Canada
. May sits on the boards of the International Institute of Sustainable Development and Prevent Cancer Now! She is a former vice-chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
.
In 2001, May went on a 17-day hunger strike
in front of Parliament Hill
to demand the relocation of families at risk next to Canada’s largest toxic waste site, the Sydney tar ponds
in Cape Breton
. She had co-authored a book on the tar ponds with Maude Barlow
. As a result, the federal government pledged to relocate people living nearby to a safer location. After that, May was involved in lobbying Paul Martin
, then Minister of Finance
, that gross domestic product
was not a viable measure of economic performance, a position Martin clearly advanced in public in Canada through 2003.
When Martin became Prime Minister of Canada
in late 2003, he was however circumspect on this point, and his replacement in Finance, Ralph Goodale
, was concerned mostly to cut Canada's debt to GDP ratio
. May rallied and repeated her conversion feat, and by February 2005 Goodale announced "the greenest budget ever", representing the Green Budget Coalition.
May is a supporter of Help Lesotho
and has experience in international lobbying. She said that the Montreal Action Plan (which came out of the 2005 UN Climate Change Conference) was "a set of agreements that may well save the planet". She counts Bill Clinton
, who attended the Montreal Conference in 2005 at her request, among her contacts; Clinton became acquainted with May and her parents (then living in Connecticut) while a student at Yale University
in the 1970s. In his conference speech Clinton thanked May for inviting him to Montreal
. Clinton's presence was instrumental in getting the US to agree to talks on climate change
for the first time.
May resigned as the Sierra Club's executive director in April 2006, intending to step down that June. As one of her last major acts in this post she participated in a poll of experts that determined that Brian Mulroney
was Canada's "greenest" Prime Minister for an award presented by Corporate Knights
magazine, due in part to his influence over the USA on acid rain
. For her prominent role in this initiative, May took some criticism from leftist commentators and environmentalists. However, as Mulroney himself noted, she saw him as "the best of a bad bunch", and the timing of the event was calculated to pressure current Prime Minister Stephen Harper
to improve his environmental policies in the spring 2006 federal budget. This was May's last public nonpartisan announcement.
On May 9, 2006, May entered the Green Party of Canada's leadership race
. She announced her intent to make the party "a force". She cited the "major planetary catastrophe" and "climate crisis" and the "crisis of democracy" as primary issues. "I find myself despairing when I see four men in suits engaging in a debate where nothing important is said… if the voters get to hear a whole bunch of really exciting new ideas, they might like them… instead of trying to do a calculation of who they hate the least".
On August 26, 2006, May won the leadership election on the first ballot. She tallied 65.3% of the votes, beating her main rival, David Chernushenko (33.3%) and Jim Fannon
(0.88%). She said one of the main platforms for the next election would be to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). She also said that she would insist on the party being represented on the televised debates. At the time of her election as leader, May said she intended to run in the riding of Cape Breton-Canso in the next federal election
, although she also said she would stand in a federal byelection if one occurred prior to the next general election.
In the fall of 2006, London North Centre
Member of Parliament
Joe Fontana
announced he was resigning his seat to run for Mayor
of London, Ontario
. Prime Minister Stephen Harper
scheduled a by-election for that seat on November 27, 2006, and May stood as the candidate for the Green Party. She shocked some analysts when she finished second to Glen Pearson
of the Liberal Party
, ahead of the Conservative
and New Democratic Party
(NDP) candidates. At the time, May's showing in this by-election was the best result, in terms of percentage, ever achieved by the Green Party of Canada. She received 9,864 votes, about 26% of the total votes cast.
On March 17, 2007, May announced that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova
, in the next federal election. Central Nova is located on mainland Nova Scotia, rather than Cape Breton Island
where May once lived. However, it is adjacent to the Cape Breton-Canso
riding in which May previously expressed interest, and overlaps with the area covered by the former Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
riding in which she ran in 1980 as founder of the "Small Party". The riding was held by Conservative National Defence Minister
Peter MacKay
. May has explained that she chose Central Nova to avoid running against a Liberal or NDP incumbent. She acknowledged, however, that this would be a more difficult riding for her to win than others she had considered. May received 32% of the vote in Central Nova in 2006 to MacKay's 47%.
On April 12, 2007, Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion
announced that the Liberals would not run a candidate in Central Nova in return for the Greens not running a candidate in Dion's safe Saint-Laurent—Cartierville
riding. May had attempted to talk to NDP leader Jack Layton
about ways to cooperate to avoid Harper’s party forming government. Layton refused to meet and attacked May for agreeing to a “leader’s courtesy” agreement with Dion. When the May-Dion deal was announced, it was criticized by the Conservatives and NDP, with Layton describing it as "backroom dealing", while former NDP leader Ed Broadbent
said that it deprived voters of choice.
, based on the lack of any elected Green party MPs. She argued that the TV network consortium's initial exclusion of the Green Party of Canada was "anti-democratic" and blamed it on "the decision-making of a small group of TV network executives". Prime Minister Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton
, and Bloc Québécois
leader Gilles Duceppe
, all initially opposed her inclusion, with Stephen Harper threatening to boycott the debates if May were allowed to participate, on the basis that her arrangement with the Liberal party in Central Nova meant she was not truly independent of them. Because of this, former Editor-In-Chief of CBC TV News, Tony Burman
, characterized the debate process as a sham, stating that, "Some networks worried that adding a fifth leader would make the debate 'unwatchable' but we all knew that the elephant in the room was actually living at 24 Sussex Drive. And he – the Prime Minister – would effectively have veto power. Within days of the [Media Consortium] meeting, we were privately told by the Conservative Party representative that Prime Minister Harper would not participate in the debates if the Green Party leader was there."
Layton initially said that he was following the rules of the broadcast consortium, while NDP spokesman Brad Lavigne confirmed that Layton had refused to attend if May was present, noting that May had endorsed Liberal leader Stéphane Dion for prime minister, and arguing that her inclusion would in effect give the Liberals two representatives at the debate. Rod Love, former chief of staff to Ralph Klein, has suggested that the Greens could potentially cut into the NDP's support. Layton's stance drew criticism from the YWCA, Judy Rebick
, and members of his own party. Layton dropped his opposition to May's inclusion on September 10, 2008. Many commentators proclaimed May’s debut in the leaders debates to be a major breakthrough for the party, and were surprised that she proved to be a strong debater on a wide range of issues.
and said that supporters in close ridings might consider voting strategically to attempt to defeat the Conservatives. Despite this, the Green Party was the only party to see an increase in its popular vote in the 2008 election.
spoke to May about Green Party support for a possible Liberal-NDP coalition government. According to May, these discussions included discussion of a possible Senate appointment for May. However, the coalition ultimately fell apart. After Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued
Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote, Liberal leader Dion resigned and was replaced by Michael Ignatieff
. When Parliament finally resumed in January, 2009, the Liberal Party decided to support the Conservative government's new proposed budget. While Parliament was prorogued, Harper also announced his intention to fill all current and upcoming Senate vacancies with Conservative appointees.
, which is adjacent to the Central Nova riding she had contested in the 2008 election. The Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley riding became vacant when incumbent independent MP Bill Casey
resigned to accept a job as representative of the Nova Scotia provincial government in Ottawa. Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
announced on October 3, 2009 that these by-election
s would be held on November 9, 2009. After May made these comments, the Green Party selected Jason Blanch as the candidate for this riding. In the 2008 federal election, May endorsed Casey's independent campaign in Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley and the Green Party did not run a candidate.
, in British Columbia
. She faced Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn
, who had held the seat for the preceding 14 years. May had considered the Ontario riding of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound
where the Green Party received over 27% of the vote in 2008, and the riding of Guelph
, where the Green Party received 21% of the vote.
Despite her exclusion from the major leader debates, she won her riding, defeating the incumbent Gary Lunn
. She was the only Green party candidate to be elected. May is the first elected Green Party MP in Canadian history.
During a visit to the Mount St. Joseph's Convent in London, Ontario, May responded to a nun's question about abortion by explaining her personal position, which included the statement that "I don't think a woman has a frivolous right to choose." May maintains that this comment was misinterpreted. Following reports of May's statements, prominent Canadian feminist
Judy Rebick
announced that she was withdrawing her previous support of May and the Green Party due to May's questioning "the most important victory of the women's movement of my generation".
Responding to Rebick's open letter, May explicitly reaffirmed that she supported a woman's right to access a safe and legal abortion and that “I never said a woman's right to choose trivialized anything. Not ever.” May further wrote “Some feminist scholars have pointed out that the slogan 'right to choose' focuses on too narrow a context. What are a woman's real rights in society? Where are our economic rights? While a woman must have the right to terminate a pregnancy, what of the larger context? What about the on-going struggle to create a truly equal relationship of sexual equality that might (would) help avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place? What about the responsibility of both sexual partners to avoid unwanted pregnancy (and while on the topic, to avoid sexually transmitted diseases that would be reduced through use of condoms)? I believe that respectful dialogue is possible even around such an emotionally charged issue as this. Not every opponent of legal abortions is unthinking. Neither is every supporter of legal abortion unwilling to acknowledge the moral complexity of the issue. Some common ground could be found, I believe, when the discussion shifts to a broader context”.
United Church of Canada
, she quoted British author George Monbiot
stating, in reference to climate policy, that "In the eyes of history, John Howard, George Bush, and Stephen Harper will be judged more culpable than Neville Chamberlain
." The statement drew criticism from the Canadian Jewish Congress
and the Conservative Party. While Opposition leader Stéphane Dion refused to respond to Harper's request for him to distance himself from May and these remarks during Question Period, Dion did state to reporters outside Commons that May should withdraw the remarks, and that the Nazi regime is beyond any comparison.
In a Green Party of Canada
press release May stated that she was referencing comments made by journalist George Monbiot
a few days earlier at the Toronto Green Living Show saying that he "echoed the views of many people around the world when he expressed his deep distress at Canada's abdication of responsibility in the current climate crisis. As a failure of leadership and moral courage, he compared it to the appeasement efforts of Neville Chamberlain
. I made reference to Mr. Monbiot's statement to highlight the damage being done to Canada's international reputation, something that should concern all Canadians." Both Prince Charles and a former British Labour
foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett
, are on record having made similar analogies.
The reaction to May's comments led to a Macleans.ca story recounting several instances of politicians on record using Chamberlain analogies, including NDP leader Jack Layton, Liberal MP Robert Thibault
and Conservative MP Peter MacKay.
with her daughter, Victoria Cate May Burton (born 1991). She is studying theology
at Saint Paul University
, and describes herself as a practising Anglican.
She has indicated that her path towards becoming an ordained minister with the Anglican Church does not clash with her role in the Green Party of Canada
, and sees a clear separation between religion and politics.
|Glen Pearson
|align="right"|13,285
|align="right"|34.86%
|align="right"|-5.28%
|-
|Elizabeth May
|align="right"|9,845
|align="right"|25.84%
|align="right"|+20.38%
|-
|Dianne Haskett
|align="right"|9,327
|align="right"|24.48%
|align="right"|-5.48%
|-
|Megan Walker
|align="right"|5,365
|align="right"|14.08%
|align="right"|-9.62%
|-
|Steven Hunter
|align="right"|146
|align="right"|0.38%
|align="right"|-0.09%
|-
| Robert Ede
|align="right"|78
|align="right"|0.20%
|align="right"|-
|-
|Will Arlow
|align="right"|53
|align="right"|0.14%
|align="right"|-
|- style="background:white;"
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"|Total
|align="right"|38,123
|align="right"|100.00%
|align="right"|
|-
|Allan J. MacEachen ||align=right|18,262||align=right|50.40%||align=right|+2.30%
|-
|Bill Kelly ||align=right|12,799||align=right|35.32%||align=right|-3.44%
|-
|William J. Woodfine ||align=right|4,902||align=right|13.53%||align=right|+0.39%
|-
|Elizabeth May ||align=right|272||align=right|0.75%||align=right|*
Canadians of American origin
American-Canadians are people of Canadian citizenship who were born in the United States of America. They account for a significant portion of Canada's population. Canada and the United States share much culturally but are separate geopolitical entities in North America.According to the Canada 2006...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, activist, lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and the leader of the Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
. She was the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada
Sierra Club of Canada
Sierra Club Canada is a Canadian, volunteer-based environmental organization. It is part of the environmental movement.The roots of Sierra Club Canada go back to 1963, when environmentalists in British Columbia affiliated themselves with the Sierra Club of the United States...
from 1989 to 2006. She became a Canadian citizen in 1978.
May's permanent residence is in Sidney, British Columbia
Sidney, British Columbia
Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,300. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport,...
. Her family home is in Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton Island
Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia
Margaree Harbour is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island.-References:*...
. On May 2, 2011, she became the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada, defeating the incumbent, Gary Lunn
Gary Lunn
Gary Vincent Lunn, PC, MP is the former Canadian Member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands. He served in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2011, first as a member of the Reform Party of Canada and subsequently as a member of the Canadian Alliance and the...
.
Early life and family
May was born in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
to a British father and American mother; she has a younger brother named Geoffrey. Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and one of the original founders of the peace group SANE, while her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty.
May attended Renbrook School
Renbrook School
Renbrook School is an independent, private day school in West Hartford, Connecticut for children age 3 through Grade 9.- History :In 1935, Mr. and Mrs. John Lee of Farmington and seven other families established a progressive school in the spirit of John Dewey. This school, called the Tunxis...
and the prestigious Miss Porter's School
Miss Porter's School
Miss Porter's School, sometimes simply referred to as Porter's or Farmington, is a private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut.- History :...
in Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington is a town located in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census. It is home to the world headquarters of several large corporations including Carrier Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, and Carvel...
. Her family was rooted in the Welsh Congregationalist
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
tradition of free thinking on religious beliefs.
The family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia
Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia
Margaree Harbour is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island.-References:*...
in 1972 following a summer vacation spent on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. On moving to the province, the May family purchased and restored a land-locked schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, the Marion Elizabeth, in which a restaurant and gift shop was housed. Although the business had been closed for several years before being purchased by the Mays, it became a popular spot along the Cabot Trail
Cabot Trail
The Cabot Trail is a highway and scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in northern Victoria County and Inverness County on Cape Breton Island....
. Launched in 1918, and named after the wife and daughter of the ship's first captain, the Marion Elizabeth was the only authentic Bluenose fishing schooner, and was built by the Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...
firm Smith and Rhuland. Farley Mowat
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, , born May 12, 1921 is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian North, such as People of the...
also gave the Mays his schooner, the Happy Adventure, which was featured in his book, The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float, and was displayed next to the gift shop. The restaurant and gift shop operated from 1974 until 2002 when the property was expropriated for an expanded highway bridge carrying Route 19
Nova Scotia Route 19
Trunk 19 is part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's system of trunk highways. The road runs from Port Hastings to a junction with the Cabot Trail at Margaree Forks on Cape Breton Island, a distance of 106 kilometres...
across the Margaree River
Margaree River
The Margaree River is a river on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The northeast branch of the river derives from the watershed of the Cape Breton Highlands, while the Southwest Margaree flows northeast from Lake Ainslie. The two branches join at Margaree Forks...
.
Law school
Heavy financial losses in the early years of the family business made it impossible for Elizabeth and her brother to go to university. Elizabeth briefly enrolled at St. Francis Xavier UniversitySt. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...
in 1974, but had to leave when she didn’t have enough money for tuition. Returning to Margaree, she took correspondence courses in restaurant management. Beginning in 1980, she worked her way through Dalhousie Law School
Dalhousie Law School
The Schulich School of Law is part of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Formerly called Dalhousie Law School, it was established in 1883, making it the oldest university-affiliated common law school in the Commonwealth. It is the primary law school in Atlantic Canada and...
as a mature student, graduating with an LLB in 1983, with then Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, writing her a letter of reference.
Early activism
In 1975, following the move to Margaree Harbour, Elizabeth May joined with other local residents in a grassroots effort to stop approved aerial insecticide spraying over the forests of Cape Breton Island. The group “Cape Breton Landowners Against the Spray” was the focus of Elizabeth May’s volunteer effort from 1975-79. SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
multinational Stora
Stora Enso
Stora Enso Oyj is a Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki, and it has approximately 29,000 employees...
owned the local pulp and paper mill and held licenses to harvest the forests of eastern Nova Scotia. Stora wanted the government to pay for spraying the now-banned, organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion
Fenitrothion
Fenitrothion is a phosphorothioate insecticide....
to counter the epidemic of spruce budworm
Spruce Budworm
Spruce budworms and relatives are a group of closely related insects in the genus Choristoneura. Most are serious pests of conifers. There are nearly a dozen Choristoneura species, subspecies, or forms, with a complexity of variation among populations found throughout much of the United States and...
. Within months the provincial government agreed to cancel the permits due to health concerns. The budworm outbreak later collapsed of natural causes. The issue was the subject of Elizabeth May's first book, Budworm Battles, as well as CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
program The Fifth Estate
The fifth estate
the fifth estate is a Canadian television newsmagazine, which airs on the English language CBC Television network. The name is a play on the fact that the media are sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate, and was chosen to highlight the program's determination to go beyond everyday news into...
in a segment called “Miss May's War”, and a National Film Board
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
documentary called Budworks.
Early political activity
In 1980, disillusioned with the federal election sparked by the loss of confidence vote on Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...
's budget, May launched a political party to raise environment and anti-nuclear issues. The party, dubbed "the Small Party" and based on the ideas in E.F. Schumacher's
book, Small is Beautiful
Small Is Beautiful
Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered is a collection of essays by British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a phrase by his teacher Leopold Kohr...
, ran 12 candidates in 6 provinces, in the 1980 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1980
The Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada...
. They made no pretense of attempting to win seats, calling the effort a “beau geste” to raise awareness. May, at the time a 25-year-old waitress, ran against the former Deputy Prime Minister, Allan J. MacEachen in Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso was a federal electoral district in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1997.-History:...
. She placed fourth in a field of four candidates receiving 272 votes.
Early 1980s environmental activism
Between 1980 and 1982, May worked in the local movement opposing uraniumUranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
mining. It succeeded when the provincial government announced a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
. She was also very active in the effort to stop approval of the Point Lepreau
Point Lepreau
Point Lepreau is a cape located in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada.It is located at the southern tip of a 10 km long peninsula that extends into the Bay of Fundy...
nuclear plant in New Brunswick.
In 1982, the Nova Scotia government of Conservative Premier John Buchanan
John Buchanan
John MacLennan Buchanan, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th Premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.-Early life:...
re-approved the spraying of forests with the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Those same chemicals, in 50-50 combination, were known as Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
and had been used as defoliants during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. All of the major pulp and paper companies in Nova Scotia received permits to spray the herbicides to kill hardwood trees and shrubs. May was between her second and third year of law school when the permits were granted, and began organizing to stop the spraying. The government announced it would convert the spray permits from aerial to ground spray. A total of 17 local residents went to court to stop the spraying. May's role was as both plaintiff and as volunteer lawyer. The plaintiffs received an interim injunction in August 1982 that prevented the spraying. Following the initial hearing, the case against Scott Paper was rejected. That initial decision resulted in a bill of costs against the plaintiffs for $15,000. May's mother sold 80 acres of family land to cover the costs to Scott Paper.
The trial of the 17 plaintiffs against Stora, reported as Vicky Palmer et al v. Stora Kopparberg, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Trial Division, was heard over the month of May 1983. Mr. Justice Merlin Nunn ruled that the chemicals were not dangerous and had not caused health effects in Vietnam. By the time the judgment came down, the chemicals were no longer available for use in Canada. On behalf of the plaintiffs, Elizabeth May and Chief Ryan Googoo of the Mikmaq First Nation traveled to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
to raise funds and support for an appeal. The tour of Sweden gained support for the Nova Scotians opposed to Agent Orange, with Prime Minister Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
endorsing their cause. While they were away, the pulp company pressured the other plaintiffs to drop the appeal and accept a settlement. In the settlement, Stora insisted that, while other plaintiffs and lawyers could be reimbursed for their costs, the May family would not. The herbicide case is documented in an National Film Board
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
film called Herbicide Trials.
Early legal career
May graduated in 1983 and, following law school, worked as an associate at the firm of Kitz, Matheson, Green and MacIsaac in Halifax (now Patterson Palmer). In 1985 she moved to OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
to accept the position of Associate General Counsel to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. During this time May helped found the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund
Environmental Defence Canada
[Environmental Defence Canada] is a nonprofit environmental organization based in Toronto...
with the aim of funding groups and individuals in environmental cases. She was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1984, and the Law Society of Upper Canada
Law Society of Upper Canada
The Law Society of Upper Canada is responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1797, it is known in French as "Le Barreau du Haut-Canada"...
in 1989.
In 1986, Elizabeth May was recruited by the federal Minister of Environment, Tom McMillan
Thomas Michael McMillan
Thomas Michael "Tom" McMillan, PC in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada is a Canadian political scientist and former politician....
to provide environmental policy advice. As Senior Policy Advisor, May worked on many critical environmental issues. She was involved in the negotiation of agreements with the seven Eastern provinces and with the U.S. to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions in order to combat acid rain
Acid rain
Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
, writing new legislation, the creation of five new national parks, the negotiation of the Montreal Protocol
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion...
to protect the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
, the clean-up of the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
, and the first agreement to clean up the Sydney Tar Ponds
Sydney Tar Ponds
The Sydney Tar Ponds are a hazardous waste site on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.Located on the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour in the former city of Sydney , the Tar Ponds form a tidal estuary at the mouth of Muggah Creek, a freshwater stream that empties into the harbour...
.
In June 1988, she discovered that the minister had broken the law approving permits for two dams in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
(Rafferty and Alameda
Alameda Dam
The Alameda Dam is an embankment dam located near Alameda, and Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was constructed in 1994 to control flows on the Moose Mountain Creek, and Souris River. It provides flood protection and irrigation for this area of Saskatchewan, along with protection for Minot, North...
dams on the Souris River
Souris River
The Souris River or Mouse River is a river in central North America. It is about 700 km in length and drains about . It rises in the Yellow Grass Marshes north of Weyburn, Saskatchewan...
) without environmental review. She resigned on principle, but did not make her reasons for resignation public. In September, the Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
broke the story of her resignation on the front page, unleashing a storm of anger from Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
residents, who were downstream from the Souris. The day after the story broke, the Manitoba Legislature held an emergency debate on the issue. The Canadian Wildlife Federation
Canadian Wildlife Federation
The Canadian Wildlife Federation is Canada’s largest nonprofit organization which is committed to protecting the plants, animals and habitats of Canada . The CWF is a non-governmental organization, however it remains closely tied with the Government of Canada in order to establish environmental...
brought a lawsuit against the decision to grant permits without environmental review. The Federal Court of Canada ruled the permits had been granted illegally.
May received praise from David Suzuki
David Suzuki
David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...
for her work on Quttinirpaaq National Park
Quttinirpaaq National Park
-See also:*List of National Parks of Canada*List of protected areas of Nunavut*Arctic Cordillera-External links:**...
(known as Ellesmere National Park prior to February 19, 2001), Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
Ninstints or SGang Gwaay Llnaagay on Anthony Island, in located in the southernmost part of Gwaii Haanas, just west of Kunghit Island, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981...
(previously the South Moresby National Park Reserve, it was renamed on February 28, 1996), Grasslands National Park
Grasslands National Park
Grasslands National Park is one of Canada's newer national parks, located in southern Saskatchewan, and one of 43 parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system...
and the ozone protocol files. She resigned, in 1988, from her post after learning that the government's plan for Grasslands National Park meant granting permits for the Rafferty-Alameda Project in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
without performing environmental assessments in exchange for the parkland and the translation of Saskatchewan's statutes into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
Sierra Club of Canada Executive Director
In 1989, May became the founding Executive DirectorExecutive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
of the Sierra Club of Canada
Sierra Club of Canada
Sierra Club Canada is a Canadian, volunteer-based environmental organization. It is part of the environmental movement.The roots of Sierra Club Canada go back to 1963, when environmentalists in British Columbia affiliated themselves with the Sierra Club of the United States...
. May sits on the boards of the International Institute of Sustainable Development and Prevent Cancer Now! She is a former vice-chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
Emerging from the famous Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, the is a model for convening diverse and competing interests around one table to create consensus ideas and viable suggestions for sustainable development...
.
In 2001, May went on a 17-day hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in front of Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
to demand the relocation of families at risk next to Canada’s largest toxic waste site, the Sydney tar ponds
Sydney Tar Ponds
The Sydney Tar Ponds are a hazardous waste site on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.Located on the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour in the former city of Sydney , the Tar Ponds form a tidal estuary at the mouth of Muggah Creek, a freshwater stream that empties into the harbour...
in Cape Breton
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. She had co-authored a book on the tar ponds with Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow
Maude Victoria Barlow is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the , which works internationally for the human right to water...
. As a result, the federal government pledged to relocate people living nearby to a safer location. After that, May was involved in lobbying Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
, then Minister of Finance
Minister of Finance (Canada)
The Minister of Finance is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget...
, that gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
was not a viable measure of economic performance, a position Martin clearly advanced in public in Canada through 2003.
When Martin became Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
in late 2003, he was however circumspect on this point, and his replacement in Finance, Ralph Goodale
Ralph Goodale
Ralph Edward Goodale, PC, MP was Canada's Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 and continues to be a Liberal Member of Parliament...
, was concerned mostly to cut Canada's debt to GDP ratio
Debt to GDP ratio
In economics, the debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the indicators of the health of an economy.It is the amount of national debt of a country as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product ....
. May rallied and repeated her conversion feat, and by February 2005 Goodale announced "the greenest budget ever", representing the Green Budget Coalition.
May is a supporter of Help Lesotho
Help Lesotho
Help Lesotho is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 2004 by Dr. Peg Herbert. Based in Ottawa, Help Lesotho is made up primarily of Canadians, working to help prevent HIV/AIDS in the country of Lesotho, located in the southern region of Africa. Dr...
and has experience in international lobbying. She said that the Montreal Action Plan (which came out of the 2005 UN Climate Change Conference) was "a set of agreements that may well save the planet". She counts Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who attended the Montreal Conference in 2005 at her request, among her contacts; Clinton became acquainted with May and her parents (then living in Connecticut) while a student at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in the 1970s. In his conference speech Clinton thanked May for inviting him to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Clinton's presence was instrumental in getting the US to agree to talks on climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
for the first time.
May resigned as the Sierra Club's executive director in April 2006, intending to step down that June. As one of her last major acts in this post she participated in a poll of experts that determined that Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
was Canada's "greenest" Prime Minister for an award presented by Corporate Knights
Corporate Knights
Corporate Knights is a quarterly Canadian magazine dedicated to the promotion of responsible business practices within Canada and the advancement of social and environmental sustainability worldwide....
magazine, due in part to his influence over the USA on acid rain
Acid rain
Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
. For her prominent role in this initiative, May took some criticism from leftist commentators and environmentalists. However, as Mulroney himself noted, she saw him as "the best of a bad bunch", and the timing of the event was calculated to pressure current Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
to improve his environmental policies in the spring 2006 federal budget. This was May's last public nonpartisan announcement.
Leader of Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006
On March 29, 2006 it was announced, in accordance with the Green Party of Canada constitution that there would be a leadership election held August 24–27, 2006 in Ottawa....
. She announced her intent to make the party "a force". She cited the "major planetary catastrophe" and "climate crisis" and the "crisis of democracy" as primary issues. "I find myself despairing when I see four men in suits engaging in a debate where nothing important is said… if the voters get to hear a whole bunch of really exciting new ideas, they might like them… instead of trying to do a calculation of who they hate the least".
On August 26, 2006, May won the leadership election on the first ballot. She tallied 65.3% of the votes, beating her main rival, David Chernushenko (33.3%) and Jim Fannon
Jim Fannon
Jim Fannon , is a Canadian politician, radio talk show host, entrepreneur, and real estate agent in St. Catharines. He campaigned for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada in 2006....
(0.88%). She said one of the main platforms for the next election would be to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA). She also said that she would insist on the party being represented on the televised debates. At the time of her election as leader, May said she intended to run in the riding of Cape Breton-Canso in the next federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, although she also said she would stand in a federal byelection if one occurred prior to the next general election.
London North Centre by-election
London North Centre
London North Centre is an electoral district in the province of Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Joe Fontana
Joe Fontana
Joseph Frank "Joe" Fontana, PC is the current mayor of London, Ontario. He was previously a Liberal member of the Parliament of Canada for the riding of London North Centre....
announced he was resigning his seat to run for Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
. Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
scheduled a by-election for that seat on November 27, 2006, and May stood as the candidate for the Green Party. She shocked some analysts when she finished second to Glen Pearson
Glen Pearson
Glen Douglas Pearson is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former Member of Parliament for London North Centre, and is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Life and career:...
of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
, ahead of the Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
and New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP) candidates. At the time, May's showing in this by-election was the best result, in terms of percentage, ever achieved by the Green Party of Canada. She received 9,864 votes, about 26% of the total votes cast.
2008 federal election
Central Nova
Central Nova is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1997 and since 2004. Its population in 2001 was 73,722....
, in the next federal election. Central Nova is located on mainland Nova Scotia, rather than Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
where May once lived. However, it is adjacent to the Cape Breton-Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso was a federal electoral district in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1997.-History:...
riding in which May previously expressed interest, and overlaps with the area covered by the former Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
Cape Breton Highlands—Canso was a federal electoral district in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1997.-History:...
riding in which she ran in 1980 as founder of the "Small Party". The riding was held by Conservative National Defence Minister
Minister of National Defence (Canada)
The Minister of National Defence is a Minister of the Crown; the Canadian politician within the Cabinet of Canada responsible for the Department of National Defence which oversees the Canadian Forces....
Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
. May has explained that she chose Central Nova to avoid running against a Liberal or NDP incumbent. She acknowledged, however, that this would be a more difficult riding for her to win than others she had considered. May received 32% of the vote in Central Nova in 2006 to MacKay's 47%.
On April 12, 2007, Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
announced that the Liberals would not run a candidate in Central Nova in return for the Greens not running a candidate in Dion's safe Saint-Laurent—Cartierville
Saint-Laurent—Cartierville
Saint-Laurent—Cartierville is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988. Its population in 2006 was 109,015.-Geography:...
riding. May had attempted to talk to NDP leader Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
about ways to cooperate to avoid Harper’s party forming government. Layton refused to meet and attacked May for agreeing to a “leader’s courtesy” agreement with Dion. When the May-Dion deal was announced, it was criticized by the Conservatives and NDP, with Layton describing it as "backroom dealing", while former NDP leader Ed Broadbent
Ed Broadbent
John Edward "Ed" Broadbent, is a Canadian social democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the federal New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 2004 federal election, he returned to Parliament for one additional term as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.-Life...
said that it deprived voters of choice.
Disputes over leadership debates
May was initially excluded from the televised leadership debate in the 2008 federal electionCanadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, based on the lack of any elected Green party MPs. She argued that the TV network consortium's initial exclusion of the Green Party of Canada was "anti-democratic" and blamed it on "the decision-making of a small group of TV network executives". Prime Minister Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
, and Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
leader Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe is a Canadian politician, and proponent of the Québec sovereignty movement. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons for over 20 years and was the leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois for almost 15 years. He is the son of a well-known Quebec actor, Jean...
, all initially opposed her inclusion, with Stephen Harper threatening to boycott the debates if May were allowed to participate, on the basis that her arrangement with the Liberal party in Central Nova meant she was not truly independent of them. Because of this, former Editor-In-Chief of CBC TV News, Tony Burman
Tony Burman
Tony Burman is the Velma Rogers Graham Research Chair at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.Previously, he served as Al Jazeera's chief strategic advisor for the Americas, 2010-2011, based in Washington DC. He also served as managing director of the Al Jazeera English network, based in Doha,...
, characterized the debate process as a sham, stating that, "Some networks worried that adding a fifth leader would make the debate 'unwatchable' but we all knew that the elephant in the room was actually living at 24 Sussex Drive. And he – the Prime Minister – would effectively have veto power. Within days of the [Media Consortium] meeting, we were privately told by the Conservative Party representative that Prime Minister Harper would not participate in the debates if the Green Party leader was there."
Layton initially said that he was following the rules of the broadcast consortium, while NDP spokesman Brad Lavigne confirmed that Layton had refused to attend if May was present, noting that May had endorsed Liberal leader Stéphane Dion for prime minister, and arguing that her inclusion would in effect give the Liberals two representatives at the debate. Rod Love, former chief of staff to Ralph Klein, has suggested that the Greens could potentially cut into the NDP's support. Layton's stance drew criticism from the YWCA, Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick , arrived in Toronto at age 9, and is a Canadian journalist, political activist, and feminist.-Career:...
, and members of his own party. Layton dropped his opposition to May's inclusion on September 10, 2008. Many commentators proclaimed May’s debut in the leaders debates to be a major breakthrough for the party, and were surprised that she proved to be a strong debater on a wide range of issues.
2008 election
Elizabeth May won 32% of the vote on election day, the highest percentage ever for a Green Party candidate in Canada. Despite this, May did not win in Central Nova, losing to MacKay by a margin of 5,619 votes, and her party only received 6.8 percent of the popular vote. The party failed to elect a candidate and finished the election either $2 million or $4 million in debt. There was criticism from prominent Green Party members of May's failing to support all Green candidates unequivocally during the 2008 election, as she made favorable comments about Liberal leader Stéphane DionStéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
and said that supporters in close ridings might consider voting strategically to attempt to defeat the Conservatives. Despite this, the Green Party was the only party to see an increase in its popular vote in the 2008 election.
Coalition government support
On December 2, 2008, Liberal leader Stéphane DionStéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
spoke to May about Green Party support for a possible Liberal-NDP coalition government. According to May, these discussions included discussion of a possible Senate appointment for May. However, the coalition ultimately fell apart. After Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued
Prorogation in Canada
Prorogation is the end of a parliamentary session in the Parliament of Canada and the parliaments of its provinces and territories. It differs from a recess or adjournment, which do not end a session, and from a complete dissolution of parliament, which ends both the session and the entire...
Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote, Liberal leader Dion resigned and was replaced by Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
. When Parliament finally resumed in January, 2009, the Liberal Party decided to support the Conservative government's new proposed budget. While Parliament was prorogued, Harper also announced his intention to fill all current and upcoming Senate vacancies with Conservative appointees.
Speculation of a Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley by-election bid
May had indicated she would consider running in a by-election in the rural Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit ValleyCumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley
Cumberland—Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004...
, which is adjacent to the Central Nova riding she had contested in the 2008 election. The Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley riding became vacant when incumbent independent MP Bill Casey
Bill Casey
William D. "Bill" Casey is a Canadian politician. He is a former Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons.-Life and career:...
resigned to accept a job as representative of the Nova Scotia provincial government in Ottawa. Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
announced on October 3, 2009 that these by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
s would be held on November 9, 2009. After May made these comments, the Green Party selected Jason Blanch as the candidate for this riding. In the 2008 federal election, May endorsed Casey's independent campaign in Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley and the Green Party did not run a candidate.
2011 federal election
May ran as the Green Party candidate and won in the riding of Saanich—Gulf IslandsSaanich—Gulf Islands
Saanich—Gulf Islands is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988...
, in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. She faced Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn
Gary Lunn
Gary Vincent Lunn, PC, MP is the former Canadian Member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands. He served in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2011, first as a member of the Reform Party of Canada and subsequently as a member of the Canadian Alliance and the...
, who had held the seat for the preceding 14 years. May had considered the Ontario riding of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound
Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound
Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935....
where the Green Party received over 27% of the vote in 2008, and the riding of Guelph
Guelph (electoral district)
Guelph is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 1988 and has been since 2004.The riding's parliamentary seat is held by Liberal MP Frank Valeriote.-History:...
, where the Green Party received 21% of the vote.
Excluded from leaders' debates
On March 29, 2011 the broadcast consortium organizing the televised leaders' debate for the 2011 federal election announced that it would not invite May. May publicly condemned the decision as "anti-democratic in the extreme".Despite her exclusion from the major leader debates, she won her riding, defeating the incumbent Gary Lunn
Gary Lunn
Gary Vincent Lunn, PC, MP is the former Canadian Member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands. He served in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2011, first as a member of the Reform Party of Canada and subsequently as a member of the Canadian Alliance and the...
. She was the only Green party candidate to be elected. May is the first elected Green Party MP in Canadian history.
Green Party Bi-Annual General Meeting
On August 11, 2010, 85% of the party’s members voted to support Elizabeth May as leader, and 74% of Green party members voted to hold a leadership review after the next election, rather than August 2010, which was when May's term as leader was set to end.Stance on abortion
The Green Party's policy is described as “pro-life, pro-choice”, confirming support for legal safe abortions, while also finding ways to support women who find themselves facing economic hardship and wanting to have a child. According to Green Vision 2010, Green Party MPs will "oppose any possible government move to diminish the right of a woman to a safe, legal abortion. We fully support a woman's right to choose. We will also expand programs in reproductive rights and education to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and expand supports for low-income mothers."During a visit to the Mount St. Joseph's Convent in London, Ontario, May responded to a nun's question about abortion by explaining her personal position, which included the statement that "I don't think a woman has a frivolous right to choose." May maintains that this comment was misinterpreted. Following reports of May's statements, prominent Canadian feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick
Judy Rebick , arrived in Toronto at age 9, and is a Canadian journalist, political activist, and feminist.-Career:...
announced that she was withdrawing her previous support of May and the Green Party due to May's questioning "the most important victory of the women's movement of my generation".
Responding to Rebick's open letter, May explicitly reaffirmed that she supported a woman's right to access a safe and legal abortion and that “I never said a woman's right to choose trivialized anything. Not ever.” May further wrote “Some feminist scholars have pointed out that the slogan 'right to choose' focuses on too narrow a context. What are a woman's real rights in society? Where are our economic rights? While a woman must have the right to terminate a pregnancy, what of the larger context? What about the on-going struggle to create a truly equal relationship of sexual equality that might (would) help avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place? What about the responsibility of both sexual partners to avoid unwanted pregnancy (and while on the topic, to avoid sexually transmitted diseases that would be reduced through use of condoms)? I believe that respectful dialogue is possible even around such an emotionally charged issue as this. Not every opponent of legal abortions is unthinking. Neither is every supporter of legal abortion unwilling to acknowledge the moral complexity of the issue. Some common ground could be found, I believe, when the discussion shifts to a broader context”.
Chamberlain analogy
In April 2007, during a speech by May to a London, OntarioLondon, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
, she quoted British author George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
stating, in reference to climate policy, that "In the eyes of history, John Howard, George Bush, and Stephen Harper will be judged more culpable than Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
." The statement drew criticism from the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
and the Conservative Party. While Opposition leader Stéphane Dion refused to respond to Harper's request for him to distance himself from May and these remarks during Question Period, Dion did state to reporters outside Commons that May should withdraw the remarks, and that the Nazi regime is beyond any comparison.
In a Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
press release May stated that she was referencing comments made by journalist George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
a few days earlier at the Toronto Green Living Show saying that he "echoed the views of many people around the world when he expressed his deep distress at Canada's abdication of responsibility in the current climate crisis. As a failure of leadership and moral courage, he compared it to the appeasement efforts of Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
. I made reference to Mr. Monbiot's statement to highlight the damage being done to Canada's international reputation, something that should concern all Canadians." Both Prince Charles and a former British Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett
Margaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
, are on record having made similar analogies.
The reaction to May's comments led to a Macleans.ca story recounting several instances of politicians on record using Chamberlain analogies, including NDP leader Jack Layton, Liberal MP Robert Thibault
Robert Thibault
Robert G. Thibault, PC is a Canadian politician.Thibault is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and a former member in the Canadian House of Commons, serving three terms as the representative of West Nova from 2000 to 2008. He served as a municipal councillor in Clare, Nova Scotia from 1988 to...
and Conservative MP Peter MacKay.
Personal life
May lives in Sidney, British ColumbiaSidney, British Columbia
Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,300. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport,...
with her daughter, Victoria Cate May Burton (born 1991). She is studying theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Saint Paul University
Saint Paul University
Saint Paul University is a Catholic Pontifical university federated with the University of Ottawa. It is located on Main Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and has been entrusted for more than a century to the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, and describes herself as a practising Anglican.
She has indicated that her path towards becoming an ordained minister with the Anglican Church does not clash with her role in the Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
, and sees a clear separation between religion and politics.
Electoral record
|-|Glen Pearson
Glen Pearson
Glen Douglas Pearson is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former Member of Parliament for London North Centre, and is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Life and career:...
|align="right"|13,285
|align="right"|34.86%
|align="right"|-5.28%
|-
|Elizabeth May
|align="right"|9,845
|align="right"|25.84%
|align="right"|+20.38%
|-
|Dianne Haskett
Dianne Haskett
Dianne Louise Haskett was mayor of London, Ontario, Canada, from 1994 to 2000. She served two, three-year mayoral terms, making a priority of downtown revitalization, heritage preservation, economic development, neighbourhood protection, protecting the environment, international relations, trade...
|align="right"|9,327
|align="right"|24.48%
|align="right"|-5.48%
|-
|Megan Walker
Megan Walker
Megan Walker is the executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre in London, Ontario, Canada, a community activist, a former AM radio co-host and also a former member of London City Council from 1994-2000, representing Ward 6....
|align="right"|5,365
|align="right"|14.08%
|align="right"|-9.62%
|-
|Steven Hunter
|align="right"|146
|align="right"|0.38%
|align="right"|-0.09%
|-
| Robert Ede
|align="right"|78
|align="right"|0.20%
|align="right"|-
|-
|Will Arlow
|align="right"|53
|align="right"|0.14%
|align="right"|-
|- style="background:white;"
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"|Total
|align="right"|38,123
|align="right"|100.00%
|align="right"|
|-
|Allan J. MacEachen ||align=right|18,262||align=right|50.40%||align=right|+2.30%
|-
|Bill Kelly ||align=right|12,799||align=right|35.32%||align=right|-3.44%
|-
|William J. Woodfine ||align=right|4,902||align=right|13.53%||align=right|+0.39%
|-
|Elizabeth May ||align=right|272||align=right|0.75%||align=right|*
Honours and awards
- International Conservation Award from Friends of Nature, 1985
- Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada, 1992
- Elizabeth May Chair in Women’s Health and the Environment, Dalhousie UniversityDalhousie UniversityDalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
, 1998. - Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (DHumL), Mount Saint Vincent UniversityMount Saint Vincent UniversityMount Saint Vincent University is a university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1873 and is locally referred to as The Mount.-History:...
, 2000. - Harkin Award from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for her lifetime achievement in promoting the protection of Canada’s wilderness, 2002
- Best Activist Award, Coast Magazine, Best of Halifax Readers’ Poll, 2002
- Honorary Doctorate of Laws, University of New BrunswickUniversity of New BrunswickThe University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...
, 2003. - United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Global 500 award. - Officer of the Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, 2005. - Couchiching Award for Excellence in Public Policy, 2006
- Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Mount Allison UniversityMount Allison UniversityMount Allison University is a primarily undergraduate Canadian liberal arts and science university situated in Sackville, New Brunswick. It is located about a half hour from the regional city of Moncton and 20 minutes from the Greater Moncton International Airport...
, 2007. - Newsweek Magazine: One of World's Most Influential women, November 28, 2010
Selected works
- Budworm battles: the fight to stop the aerial insecticide spraying of the forests of eastern Canada (with Richard E.L. Rogers). 1982. Four East Publications. ISBN 0-969-0041-5-X
- Paradise Won: the struggle for South Moresby. 1990. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-5772-5
- Frederick Street: life and death on Canada's Love Canal (with Maude BarlowMaude BarlowMaude Victoria Barlow is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the , which works internationally for the human right to water...
). 2000. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-200036-9 - At the cutting edge: the crisis in Canada's forests. 2005. Key Porter Books. ISBN 1-55263-645-3
- How to Save the World in Your Spare Time. 2006. Key Porter Books. ISBN 1-55263-781-6
- Global Warming for Dummies (with Zoe Caron). 2008. Wiley & Sons Publishing. ISBN 0470840986
- Losing Confidence: Power, Politics And The Crisis In Canadian Democracy. 2009. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0771057601
See also
- List of Green party leaders in Canada
- Canadian federal election, 2008Canadian federal election, 2008The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
External links
- Elizabeth May official site
- Profile at Green Party of CanadaGreen Party of CanadaThe Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...