Green Party thrilled at historic wins

Sidney: The Green Party of Canada’s historic wins in Canada’s 43rd election saw the party almost double its share of the popular vote to 6.5 per cent and crash through the million-vote barrier for the first time.

Three Green MPS will sit in the House of Commons when the new parliamentary session begins later this year. Jenica Atwin won the riding of Fredericton to become the first Green MP from the Maritimes, where the party saw many of its candidates in second place while others captured more than 10 per cent of the popular vote. Party Leader Elizabeth May easily retained her seat of Saanich-gulf Islands with 48.75 per cent of the vote and Paul Manly was re-elected in Nanaimo-ladysmith with 34.49 per cent of the vote.

“This election was one of the most critical in Canadian history,” said Ms. May. “I’m deeply grateful to the voters of Saanich-gulf Islands for their confidence in re-electing me. To my extraordinary team, the staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly on my campaign, I cannot thank you enough. Congratulations to Jenica Atwin and Paul Manly whose teams and volunteers worked incessantly for this. It paid off and now we’re a contingent of three!

“I want to congratulate Green candidates and their teams from coast to coast for their incredible hard work. We’ve grown the Green vote everywhere and will continue to do so. Also thanks to the thousands of volunteers who’ve worked so hard alongside the candidates to help get them elected. Not only did we raise the bar on climate action, we made history again, together!”

Deputy Leader Jo-ann Roberts commenting on the successes said, “We have doubled our national vote and we’re positioning ourselves for the future. The win in Fredericton is historic. Atlantic Canada is ready. We are growing Greens from coast to coast and that is going to make a huge difference moving forward. We’re ready and we’re going to make change happen.”