Green Party of British Columbia
Encyclopedia
The Green Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia
, Canada
. It is led by former Esquimalt municipal councillor, university professor and businessperson Jane Sterk
, she was elected by the party in 2007. Penticton realtor and columnist Julius Bloomfield serves as the deputy leader of the party. The party is headquartered in Victoria
.
- Sustainability
- Social Justice
- Respect for Diversity
- Ecological Wisdom
- Non-Violence
in which it fielded four candidates and received 0.19% of the vote under the leadership of Adriane Carr
. In a federal by-election in the riding of Mission—Port Moody
the same year, Betty Nickerson was the Green Party of Canada
's first federal candidate, but the party's official status was not yet recognized by Elections Canada
. She appears in electoral records as an "independent" candidate.
Adriane Carr stepped back from active involvement in the party in 1985, and the party abolished the position of leader. Thereafter, it was represented in the media by three spokespersons. In the 1986 provincial election
, the party won 0.23% of the vote and fielded nine candidates. In 1988, in response to a proposal to field only female candidates in the following election, Carr and her husband Paul George returned briefly to active involvement to defeat the proposal. From 1988 to 1992, the party was deeply divided between supporters of Carr and Greenpeace founder Jim Bohlen
and its Ecofeminist Caucus. During this period, its internal politics were dominated by a compromise faction led by electoral reform activist Steve Kisby.
However, this period of relative stability ended with the party's failure to make a breakthrough in the 1991 provincial election
, despite increasing its province-wide vote share to 0.86% and fielding a slate of 42 candidates.
who revitalized the party with youthful new members. He managed to take the party to running close to a full slate in the 1996 election
, but was only able to garner only 2% support province-wide, despite receiving the endorsement of prominent environmentalist David Suzuki
. Green hopes for a breakthrough in the Kootenay riding of Nelson-Creston
with candidate Andy Shadrack yielded a result of only 11%. Parker's first term (1993–96) was characterized by near-continuous touring of rural BC which had, up to that point, negligible or highly intermittent organization outside of the Okanagan and Comox Valleys. This touring paid off in yielding on-going organization throughout the province, enabling the party to come just four candidates short of a full slate.
The direction of the party under Parker was set by many disgruntled ex-New Democratic Party of British Columbia
members, and the policies of the party under Parker were notably leftist. During Parker's second term as leader, the party rose to a peak of 11% in public opinion polls between 1996 and 1999, almost exclusively at the NDP's expense. Although he was arrested in logging road blockades in 1993 and 1997, Parker's Greens actually invested more resources in opposing the BC Benefits package of welfare reforms and working on other social issues than it did on any significant environmental issue.
While remaining sharply critical of Glen Clark
's NDP government, Parker spearheaded highly controversial negotiations to form municipal electoral alliances with NDP-affiliated parties in 1998 after vote-splitting all but wiped out leftist representation at the local level in Vancouver and Victoria in 1996. These negotiations, approved by Clark, yielded tripartite agreements between local labour councils, Greens and New Democrats in Vancouver and Victoria, leading to Red-Green coalitions contesting the 1999 municipal elections in both cities with the support of organized labour. Neither coalition formed government but both made substantial gains, resulting in the election in Victoria, BC, of Art Vanden Berg, the first person in Canadian history to run as a Green and be elected to City Council. In Vancouver, the coalition effort also elected Parks Commissioner Roslyn Cassells.
, who began a campaign in 1999 to remove the party’s then leadership. The group conducted a bitter year-long public campaign that included an unsuccessful lawsuit against the party and later-disproven allegations against the party’s leader and board of directors including fraud, vote-rigging and even theft. Although the group was defeated at the party’s 1999 convention, it triumphed in 2000. Shortly thereafter, the party elected Carr as its new leader; since 2001, the party leader has ceased to be subject to annual review votes, the process by which Parker was removed. Following the 2000 convention, all of the party’s elected municipal representatives and some other members resigned.
With the high-profile changes at the top, the party was able to improve on its 9% poll standing at the beginning of 2000 and reached 12% of the popular vote in the May 2001 provincial election
. In spite of that significant support, it won no seats in the provincial legislature
- a fact which has been cited as an argument against the first-past-the-post
system used in BC elections.
Although she had sponsored a series of resolutions at the party's 2000 convention condemning what many saw as the party's distraction with social and governance policy at the expense of work on environmental issues, electoral reform moved to the top of Carr's agenda as leader. Disagreeing with Fair Voting BC's decision to devote the movement's energies to backing the new BC Liberal government's plan to move forward with the Citizens' Assembly process it had developed in 1997, Carr founded a rival electoral reform organization called Free Your Vote to utilize the province's citizen initiative legislation (which technically allows citizens to force referendums on legislation if they gather a sufficient number of signatures).
Despite facing public condemnation from FVBC's Loenen, Free Your Vote recruited hundreds of volunteers for the province-wide effort, building a far larger citizen organization than either ECCO or FVBC. It also gained the support of many leftists, including the official endorsement of the BC Nurses' and other unions. The campaign also faced its share of difficulties, such as leaked internal memos from the party's organizing chair explaining that organizers knew the petition drive would fail, but were simply using it to build the party's organizational base. Although the campaign only submitted enough signatures in four of the province's 79 ridings, Free Your Vote was successful in mobilizing new support for reform. But it also appears to have hardened the party's support for a single model of proportional representation (mixed-member, closed-list) and public condemnation of others.
When the Citizen's Assembly process produced its recommendation that a referendum be held on the Single Transferable Vote system Carr condemned it . She put out a press release saying she was going to ask the upcoming Green Party AGM to endorse an "emergency" call to the voters of BC to reject BC-STV. Support for STV and recognition that it was a proportional voting system was substantial enough among BC Greens that Carr was forced to change her position to one that had her declare that although she opposed STV personally, Greens would be free to vote however they chose. (Odd, this in a party supposedly not "top-down" like the other parties). An example of how adamantly opposed Carr was to any proportional voting system other than the one she had been promoting was shown when a former Speaker of the BC Greens from 1990, David Lewis, arrived at the AGM only to find his name had been removed from the membership list. He had written Carr saying he thought she was going to destroy Green electoral chances for a generation informing her he was going to become active in the party again to try to stop her. Carr's Provincial Council met and rescinded his party membership. "I am the party...." said Carr on Global TV, which illustrated to some analysts how she viewed internal party debates such as the one over BC-STV.
The BC-STV referendum
failed. Had 1.2% of the votes been different, the electoral system in British Columbia would now be BC-STV. Many Greens see Carr as responsible for its defeat.
Carr often claimed that BC-STV was a system that would create difficulties for women seeking to be elected. Canadian feminists, to the extent they participated in debate on BC-STV, were split. Dr. Lisa Young, who had appeared before the Citizen's Assembly to discuss the barriers to women in various electoral systems, did not support Carr's analysis: "She presented evidence that there was no clear solution in the electoral system for increasing women's representation. Her evidence suggested that the problem lay in the nomination processes and cultures of political parties.". The idea that BC-STV would not have allowed the Greens to elect MLAs for the first time is unsupportable. Turning a chance to get a system like this down, because BC-STV was perceived by some feminists to be not as good as some other proportional electoral system led some to believe Carr's perception of how to advance the feminist cause had caused her to lose sight of what the Green Party exists to do.
Four years later, as Greens came to understand what STV was, they were far more unified in supporting the second referendum held for it. But by then it had become clear to many in other parties that given historical voting patterns in the province, BC-STV would tend to produce perpetual coalition government with Greens holding the balance of power. Liberal and NDP memories of unfair voting results for their respective parties in previous elections, fresh during the first BC-STV campaign, had faded. The second referendum on BC-STV was soundly defeated.
Following the failure of her preferred Free Your Vote, and her "success" in defeating BC STV, Carr focused her energy on a lively province-wide campaign opposing the 2010 Winter Olympic Games bid. But once the games were awarded to BC, the party was unable to find province-wide issues that resonated strongly with voters. Between 2003 and 2005, the party's presence was notably low key as Carr returned to the constant touring mode that had characterized Parker's first term.
In the 2005 provincial election
, the GPBC's vote declined to 9% province-wide from 12% four years previously. Despite being rated highly for her debate performance by media commentators, Carr's performance was poorly rated by the public and her own vote share declined to 25% in her home constituency of Powell River-Sunshine Coast
, 17% behind the victorious NDP candidate. Only in the constituencies of Vancouver-Burrard
, West Vancouver-Garibaldi
and Kelowna-Mission
did the party's popularity increase.
These measures, it seems, were insufficient to quiet increasing internal dissatisfaction with her leadership. Prior to the first annual convention following the reinstitution of the practice requiring that leaders step down and run to succeed themselves each electoral cycle (this, along with annual confidence votes had been repealed in 2001), Carr announced her resignation on September 24, 2006. As predicted by those familiar with Carr's long-standing relationship with the newly-elected Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May
, Carr accepted the paid position of Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada and is a federal candidate in the riding of Vancouver Centre
.
held a leadership election on 21 October 2007 after the resignation of Adriane Carr
in September 2006. Christopher Bennett was appointed interim leader until the leadership election was held. Former Vancouver-Hastings
candidate Ian Gregson
was the first to announce his candidacy.http://www.mherrera.org/elections.htm
Jane Sterk, a municipal councilor, university professor and small business owner, was elected leader of the BC Greens at their 2007 Convention at Royal Roads University in Victoria. She assumed the role from Interim Leader Christopher Ian Bennett.
The Greens maintain they receive support from all over the political spectrum. In the federal election of 2004
, former Social Credit Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and media personality Rafe Mair
confounded many by openly supporting the Green Party. The Greens have often been labelled as openly right wing at the same time as being labelled openly left wing by opponents.
The Greens' strength is concentrated on Southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, The Okanagan, Sea-to-Sky region and in high density areas of Vancouver. In 1991, the party's strongest showing was 4.4% in Rossland-Trail; in 1996, 11% in Nelson-Creston, in 2001 and 2005, in Adriane Carr
's riding of Powell River-Sunshine Coast
where she received 27% and 25% respectively, and in 2009 in West Vancouver-Sea-to-Sky with 22%.
(Three Speakers were elected instead of one Leader during these years)
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...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is led by former Esquimalt municipal councillor, university professor and businessperson Jane Sterk
Jane Sterk
Jane Sterk is the leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, a candidate in the Esquimalt-Royal Roads riding in the 2009 British Columbia provincial election, and a business professor at University Canada West. She was elected leader of the provincial Green Party in October 2007, and elected...
, she was elected by the party in 2007. Penticton realtor and columnist Julius Bloomfield serves as the deputy leader of the party. The party is headquartered in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
Principles
- Participatory Democracy- Sustainability
- Social Justice
- Respect for Diversity
- Ecological Wisdom
- Non-Violence
Founding and early years
The first Green Party in North America, was formed in British Columbia, Canada on February 4, 1983 registering as both a provincial society and a political party shortly before the 1983 provincial electionBritish Columbia general election, 1983
The British Columbia general election of 1983 was the 33rd provincial election for the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 7, 1983. The election was held on May 5, 1983...
in which it fielded four candidates and received 0.19% of the vote under the leadership of Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
. In a federal by-election in the riding of Mission—Port Moody
Mission—Port Moody
Mission—Port Moody was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 1988.This riding was created in 1976 from parts of Fraser Valley East and Fraser Valley West ridings....
the same year, Betty Nickerson was 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...
's first federal candidate, but the party's official status was not yet recognized by Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
. She appears in electoral records as an "independent" candidate.
Adriane Carr stepped back from active involvement in the party in 1985, and the party abolished the position of leader. Thereafter, it was represented in the media by three spokespersons. In the 1986 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 1986
The British Columbia general election of 1986 was the 34th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 24, 1986...
, the party won 0.23% of the vote and fielded nine candidates. In 1988, in response to a proposal to field only female candidates in the following election, Carr and her husband Paul George returned briefly to active involvement to defeat the proposal. From 1988 to 1992, the party was deeply divided between supporters of Carr and Greenpeace founder Jim Bohlen
Jim Bohlen
Jim Bohlen , was an American engineer who worked on the Atlas ICBM missile program, later emigrated to Canada after becoming disillusioned with the US government's nuclear policy during the Cold War and one of the co-founders of Greenpeace.Bohlen, one of the approximately half-dozen founders of...
and its Ecofeminist Caucus. During this period, its internal politics were dominated by a compromise faction led by electoral reform activist Steve Kisby.
However, this period of relative stability ended with the party's failure to make a breakthrough in the 1991 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 1991
The British Columbia general election of 1991 was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, and held on October 17, 1991...
, despite increasing its province-wide vote share to 0.86% and fielding a slate of 42 candidates.
The Parker years
In 1993, the party elected a new leader, then-21-year-old Stuart ParkerStuart Parker
Stuart Parker was leader of the Green Party in British Columbia, Canada, from 1993 to 2000. In 2009, during the Ontario by-election to replace MPP Michael Byrant, he unsuccessfully sought the Ontario New Democratic Party nomination for the St...
who revitalized the party with youthful new members. He managed to take the party to running close to a full slate in the 1996 election
British Columbia general election, 1996
The British Columbia general election of 1996 was the thirty sixth provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 30, 1996, and held on May 28, 1996...
, but was only able to garner only 2% support province-wide, despite receiving the endorsement of prominent environmentalist 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...
. Green hopes for a breakthrough in the Kootenay riding of Nelson-Creston
Nelson-Creston
Nelson-Creston is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the general election of 1933 following a redistribution of the earlier Nelson riding....
with candidate Andy Shadrack yielded a result of only 11%. Parker's first term (1993–96) was characterized by near-continuous touring of rural BC which had, up to that point, negligible or highly intermittent organization outside of the Okanagan and Comox Valleys. This touring paid off in yielding on-going organization throughout the province, enabling the party to come just four candidates short of a full slate.
The direction of the party under Parker was set by many disgruntled ex-New Democratic Party of British Columbia
New Democratic Party of British Columbia
The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...
members, and the policies of the party under Parker were notably leftist. During Parker's second term as leader, the party rose to a peak of 11% in public opinion polls between 1996 and 1999, almost exclusively at the NDP's expense. Although he was arrested in logging road blockades in 1993 and 1997, Parker's Greens actually invested more resources in opposing the BC Benefits package of welfare reforms and working on other social issues than it did on any significant environmental issue.
While remaining sharply critical of Glen Clark
Glen Clark
Glen David Clark is a politician in British Columbia, Canada who served as the 31st Premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999.-Early life and education:...
's NDP government, Parker spearheaded highly controversial negotiations to form municipal electoral alliances with NDP-affiliated parties in 1998 after vote-splitting all but wiped out leftist representation at the local level in Vancouver and Victoria in 1996. These negotiations, approved by Clark, yielded tripartite agreements between local labour councils, Greens and New Democrats in Vancouver and Victoria, leading to Red-Green coalitions contesting the 1999 municipal elections in both cities with the support of organized labour. Neither coalition formed government but both made substantial gains, resulting in the election in Victoria, BC, of Art Vanden Berg, the first person in Canadian history to run as a Green and be elected to City Council. In Vancouver, the coalition effort also elected Parks Commissioner Roslyn Cassells.
The Carr years
The party’s increased poll standing, new position on collaboration with its longtime rivals and impending electoral success attracted the attention of a number of prominent environmentalists, led by Adriane CarrAdriane Carr
Adriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
, who began a campaign in 1999 to remove the party’s then leadership. The group conducted a bitter year-long public campaign that included an unsuccessful lawsuit against the party and later-disproven allegations against the party’s leader and board of directors including fraud, vote-rigging and even theft. Although the group was defeated at the party’s 1999 convention, it triumphed in 2000. Shortly thereafter, the party elected Carr as its new leader; since 2001, the party leader has ceased to be subject to annual review votes, the process by which Parker was removed. Following the 2000 convention, all of the party’s elected municipal representatives and some other members resigned.
With the high-profile changes at the top, the party was able to improve on its 9% poll standing at the beginning of 2000 and reached 12% of the popular vote in the May 2001 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 2001
The British Columbia general election of 2001 was the 37th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 18, 2001, and held on May 16, 2001...
. In spite of that significant support, it won no seats in the provincial legislature
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....
- a fact which has been cited as an argument against the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
system used in BC elections.
Although she had sponsored a series of resolutions at the party's 2000 convention condemning what many saw as the party's distraction with social and governance policy at the expense of work on environmental issues, electoral reform moved to the top of Carr's agenda as leader. Disagreeing with Fair Voting BC's decision to devote the movement's energies to backing the new BC Liberal government's plan to move forward with the Citizens' Assembly process it had developed in 1997, Carr founded a rival electoral reform organization called Free Your Vote to utilize the province's citizen initiative legislation (which technically allows citizens to force referendums on legislation if they gather a sufficient number of signatures).
Despite facing public condemnation from FVBC's Loenen, Free Your Vote recruited hundreds of volunteers for the province-wide effort, building a far larger citizen organization than either ECCO or FVBC. It also gained the support of many leftists, including the official endorsement of the BC Nurses' and other unions. The campaign also faced its share of difficulties, such as leaked internal memos from the party's organizing chair explaining that organizers knew the petition drive would fail, but were simply using it to build the party's organizational base. Although the campaign only submitted enough signatures in four of the province's 79 ridings, Free Your Vote was successful in mobilizing new support for reform. But it also appears to have hardened the party's support for a single model of proportional representation (mixed-member, closed-list) and public condemnation of others.
When the Citizen's Assembly process produced its recommendation that a referendum be held on the Single Transferable Vote system Carr condemned it . She put out a press release saying she was going to ask the upcoming Green Party AGM to endorse an "emergency" call to the voters of BC to reject BC-STV. Support for STV and recognition that it was a proportional voting system was substantial enough among BC Greens that Carr was forced to change her position to one that had her declare that although she opposed STV personally, Greens would be free to vote however they chose. (Odd, this in a party supposedly not "top-down" like the other parties). An example of how adamantly opposed Carr was to any proportional voting system other than the one she had been promoting was shown when a former Speaker of the BC Greens from 1990, David Lewis, arrived at the AGM only to find his name had been removed from the membership list. He had written Carr saying he thought she was going to destroy Green electoral chances for a generation informing her he was going to become active in the party again to try to stop her. Carr's Provincial Council met and rescinded his party membership. "I am the party...." said Carr on Global TV, which illustrated to some analysts how she viewed internal party debates such as the one over BC-STV.
The BC-STV referendum
British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2005
A referendum was held in the Canadian province of British Columbia on May 17, 2005 to determine whether or not to adopt the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform...
failed. Had 1.2% of the votes been different, the electoral system in British Columbia would now be BC-STV. Many Greens see Carr as responsible for its defeat.
Carr often claimed that BC-STV was a system that would create difficulties for women seeking to be elected. Canadian feminists, to the extent they participated in debate on BC-STV, were split. Dr. Lisa Young, who had appeared before the Citizen's Assembly to discuss the barriers to women in various electoral systems, did not support Carr's analysis: "She presented evidence that there was no clear solution in the electoral system for increasing women's representation. Her evidence suggested that the problem lay in the nomination processes and cultures of political parties.". The idea that BC-STV would not have allowed the Greens to elect MLAs for the first time is unsupportable. Turning a chance to get a system like this down, because BC-STV was perceived by some feminists to be not as good as some other proportional electoral system led some to believe Carr's perception of how to advance the feminist cause had caused her to lose sight of what the Green Party exists to do.
Four years later, as Greens came to understand what STV was, they were far more unified in supporting the second referendum held for it. But by then it had become clear to many in other parties that given historical voting patterns in the province, BC-STV would tend to produce perpetual coalition government with Greens holding the balance of power. Liberal and NDP memories of unfair voting results for their respective parties in previous elections, fresh during the first BC-STV campaign, had faded. The second referendum on BC-STV was soundly defeated.
Following the failure of her preferred Free Your Vote, and her "success" in defeating BC STV, Carr focused her energy on a lively province-wide campaign opposing the 2010 Winter Olympic Games bid. But once the games were awarded to BC, the party was unable to find province-wide issues that resonated strongly with voters. Between 2003 and 2005, the party's presence was notably low key as Carr returned to the constant touring mode that had characterized Parker's first term.
In the 2005 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 2005
The 38th British Columbia general election was held on May 17, 2005, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia , Canada. The BC Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell...
, the GPBC's vote declined to 9% province-wide from 12% four years previously. Despite being rated highly for her debate performance by media commentators, Carr's performance was poorly rated by the public and her own vote share declined to 25% in her home constituency of Powell River-Sunshine Coast
Powell River-Sunshine Coast
Powell River-Sunshine Coast is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :...
, 17% behind the victorious NDP candidate. Only in the constituencies of Vancouver-Burrard
Vancouver-Burrard
Vancouver-Burrard was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It first appeared on the hustings in the 1933 general election....
, West Vancouver-Garibaldi
West Vancouver-Garibaldi
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada....
and Kelowna-Mission
Kelowna-Mission
Kelowna-Mission is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :-MLAs:*Cliff Serwa, Social Credit *Sindi Hawkins, Liberal *Steve Thomson, Liberal...
did the party's popularity increase.
These measures, it seems, were insufficient to quiet increasing internal dissatisfaction with her leadership. Prior to the first annual convention following the reinstitution of the practice requiring that leaders step down and run to succeed themselves each electoral cycle (this, along with annual confidence votes had been repealed in 2001), Carr announced her resignation on September 24, 2006. As predicted by those familiar with Carr's long-standing relationship with the newly-elected Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May
Elizabeth May
Elizabeth Evans May, OC, MP 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...
, Carr accepted the paid position of Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada and is a federal candidate in the riding of Vancouver Centre
Vancouver Centre
Vancouver Centre is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917.-Geography:...
.
Today's Greens
The Green Party of British ColumbiaGreen Party of British Columbia
The Green Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. It is led by former Esquimalt municipal councillor, university professor and businessperson Jane Sterk, she was elected by the party in 2007. Penticton realtor and columnist Julius Bloomfield serves as the deputy...
held a leadership election on 21 October 2007 after the resignation of Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
in September 2006. Christopher Bennett was appointed interim leader until the leadership election was held. Former Vancouver-Hastings
Vancouver-Hastings
Vancouver-Hastings is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :Its MLA is Shane Simpson. He was first elected in 2005...
candidate Ian Gregson
Ian Gregson
Ian Gregson is a disabled activist and author in British Columbia, Canada.He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, England on September 2, 1962. As a young boy his promising athletic career in track and field seemed to end on May 18, 1978 during his lunch hour at Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School ,...
was the first to announce his candidacy.http://www.mherrera.org/elections.htm
Jane Sterk, a municipal councilor, university professor and small business owner, was elected leader of the BC Greens at their 2007 Convention at Royal Roads University in Victoria. She assumed the role from Interim Leader Christopher Ian Bennett.
The Greens maintain they receive support from all over the political spectrum. In the federal election of 2004
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, former Social Credit Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and media personality Rafe Mair
Rafe Mair
Rafe Mair, born , is a lawyer, political commentator and former radio personality and politician in British Columbia, Canada.Mair was born in Vancouver, British Columbia where he worked as a lawyer for many years....
confounded many by openly supporting the Green Party. The Greens have often been labelled as openly right wing at the same time as being labelled openly left wing by opponents.
The Greens' strength is concentrated on Southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, The Okanagan, Sea-to-Sky region and in high density areas of Vancouver. In 1991, the party's strongest showing was 4.4% in Rossland-Trail; in 1996, 11% in Nelson-Creston, in 2001 and 2005, in Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr
Adriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
's riding of Powell River-Sunshine Coast
Powell River-Sunshine Coast
Powell River-Sunshine Coast is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :...
where she received 27% and 25% respectively, and in 2009 in West Vancouver-Sea-to-Sky with 22%.
Leaders
- Adriane CarrAdriane CarrAdriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
(1983–1985) - position abolished by 1985 convention
(Three Speakers were elected instead of one Leader during these years)
- position reinstated by 1992 convention
- Stuart ParkerStuart ParkerStuart Parker was leader of the Green Party in British Columbia, Canada, from 1993 to 2000. In 2009, during the Ontario by-election to replace MPP Michael Byrant, he unsuccessfully sought the Ontario New Democratic Party nomination for the St...
(1993–2000) - Tom HetheringtonTom HetheringtonThomas Burns "Tom" Hetherington was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.-References:...
(2000) (interim) - Adriane CarrAdriane CarrAdriane Carr is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a Councillor-elect on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia's first leader from 1983 to 1985, whereafter the party...
(2000–2006) - Christopher Bennett (2007) (interim)
- Jane SterkJane SterkJane Sterk is the leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, a candidate in the Esquimalt-Royal Roads riding in the 2009 British Columbia provincial election, and a business professor at University Canada West. She was elected leader of the provincial Green Party in October 2007, and elected...
(2007– )
Election results
| Election | Candidates fielded | Total votes | % of popular vote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 British Columbia general election, 1983 The British Columbia general election of 1983 was the 33rd provincial election for the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 7, 1983. The election was held on May 5, 1983... |
4 | 3,078 | 0.19% | 7th |
| 1986 British Columbia general election, 1986 The British Columbia general election of 1986 was the 34th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 24, 1986... |
9 | 4,660 | 0.24% | 5th |
| 1991 British Columbia general election, 1991 The British Columbia general election of 1991 was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, and held on October 17, 1991... |
42 | 12,650 | 0.86% | 4th |
| 1996 British Columbia general election, 1996 The British Columbia general election of 1996 was the thirty sixth provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 30, 1996, and held on May 28, 1996... |
71 | 31,511 | 1.99% | 5th |
| 2001 British Columbia general election, 2001 The British Columbia general election of 2001 was the 37th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 18, 2001, and held on May 16, 2001... |
72 | 197,231 | 12.39% | 3rd |
| 2005 British Columbia general election, 2005 The 38th British Columbia general election was held on May 17, 2005, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia , Canada. The BC Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell... |
79 | 161,842 | 9.17% | 3rd |
| 2009 British Columbia general election, 2009 The 39th British Columbia general election was held on May 12, 2009 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The BC Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell... |
85 | 125,265 | 8.09% | 3rd |
See also
- 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...
- List of Green party leaders in Canada
- List of political parties in British Columbia
- List of Green politicians who have held office in Canada