Andrew Weaver brought the BC Green Party to recent heights.
In 2013, he became the primary Green to win a seat within the B.C. legislature. In 2017, Weaver was leader and the party grew to 3 MLAs, holding the balance of power in the brand new NDP government.
But now Weaver has resigned as leader and MLA Adam Olsen has stepped in as interim leader. The race officially kicked off on Monday.
The leadership voting will happen from June 15 to 26 and the party will use ranked ballots for 3 or more candidates, or first-past-the-post for a contest of two. The winner might be announced at a convention in Nanaimo, which might be held June 26 to twenty-eight.
The query is who will run to develop into the everlasting leader of the party. Listed below are a number of possibilities.
Sonia Furstenau
Up to now the Cowichan Valley MLA has been publicly non-committal about her plans for leadership. However it looks likely she is going to resolve to leap into the race.
Furstenau has been putting together a leadership team and has already had a planning retreat with staff.
When Olsen decided to develop into the interim leader, it meant he could now not run for the everlasting leadership. That leaves Furstenau because the only possible candidate among the many three Green MLAs.
The previous teacher was thrust into the political highlight when she led the charge to have permits rescinded for Cobble Hill Holdings to store contaminated soil upstream from Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.
The province eventually cancelled the permit in February 2017. Furstenau was elected provincially that May.
The 48-year old was on the Greens negotiating team following the 2017 election and has served as House Leader and deputy leader.
Jonina Campbell
Campbell is currently the Green deputy leader, although she has never been elected provincially. She has been widely encouraged to run and has taken time over the vacations reflecting along with her family.
There may be an expectation she could announce her plans as early as next week.
The Richmond School District teacher is a former Latest Westminster School Board trustee. In 2017, she ran for the Greens in Latest Westminster, tripling the party’s support to 25 per cent.
Campbell has helped construct the party’s presence in Metro Vancouver where the Greens have never won a seat. Throughout the last election she served because the party’s education spokesperson.
Dana Taylor
While Campbell is the party’s deputy leader, Taylor is the Green Metro Vancouver candidate that received the best percentage of votes within the region in 2017.
He also all the time appears to be running. The previous North Vancouver city councillor ran provincially within the West Vancouver-Sea-to-Sky riding in 2017, after which for the Greens federally last fall.
Taylor finished third with 22 per cent of the votes within the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country federal riding. Like Campbell, Taylor would supply the party with a presence in Metro Vancouver.
Joe Keithley
The Green Party has seen recent growth not only on the federal and provincial levels, but on the municipal level as well.
After running for the Greens within the 2017 provincial election in Burnaby-Lougheed, Keithley won a seat in 2018 on Burnaby city council.
But Keithley is best known not for his political credentials, but as D.O.A member Joey S***head.
He would inject the race with big time name recognition, nevertheless it’s unclear whether that may very well be changed into votes for the party province-wide.
Michael Wiebe, Adriane Carr or Pete Fry
Success for the Greens has seemingly are available in threes.
Not only are there three Green MLAs in Victoria and three Green MPs in Ottawa, but Vancouver city council also boasts three Greens: Wiebe, Carr and Fry.
A jump from Vancouver City Hall to the B.C. legislature wouldn’t be unprecedented. Gordon Campbell and Sam Sullivan have done it, while Gregor Robertson went the opposite direction.
Now Wiebe, Carr and Fry may have to make the choice on whether the Green leadership is something to at the least consider.
Carr has done the job before, but since then has bolstered her status and name recognition by being a giant vote-getter in council elections. Wiebe has been constructing a political resume through his time on Park Board and now city council. And Fry is well-known in political circles, but will not be willing to provide up the council job he ran quite a few times for.
Lisa Helps
Helps has never run under the Green Party banner, but she has significant ties to the party. As Victoria’s mayor she has been a provincial leader on the environment, housing, biking infrastructure and town’s tech sector.
Helps has been linked to all levels of presidency, often being courted by the federal Liberals as a possible candidate.
She has served six years as Victoria’s mayor and it doesn’t appear like she has finished all of the work she got down to do.
Second place federal Green candidates
One among the X aspects within the BC Green leadership is there may be also a federal Green leadership race underway. With current federal Elizabeth May planning to step aside, there may be a gaggle of Green supporters also taking a look at that job.
But when staying near home seems appealing, there may very well be a spot within the provincial party for Racelle Kooy. The candidate for Victoria within the last federal election was one in all two Green candidates in BC to complete second of their riding.
The opposite is David Merner. The Green candidate in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke has already announced plans to run for federal leader.
