Interview with the Greens’ Elizabeth May
I had the distinct pleasure of having the opportunity of conducting a 35-minute telephone interview with Elizabeth May, MP, the Leader of the Green Party of Canada, on June 4th.
Elizabeth Evans May was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Stephanie and John Middleton. Her mother was a sculptor, pianist, writer, and prominent anti-nuclear activist. (We now know where Elizabeth inherited her community activism from.) Her father, an accountant, was Assistant Vice President of the Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance Company.
The May family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia, in 1972. The family purchased a landlocked schooner, the Marion Elizabeth, which had been converted into a restaurant and gift shop. They operated this establishment from 1974 until 2002.
Meanwhile from 1980 until 1983, Elizabeth was attending the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Graduating with a law degree in 1983, Elizabeth worked as an associate at a small law firm in Halifax. She moved to Ottawa in 1985 to work with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. Elizabeth helped found the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund “with the aim of funding groups and individuals in environmental cases”.
From 1986 to 1988, Elizabeth worked as the Senior Policy Advisor to the federal Minister of the Environment. Then she was the Executive Director of the Sierra Club from 1989 until 2006.
In June of 2006, Elizabeth resigned as Sierra Club Executive Director to run for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. She was elected Leader of the Green Party at their national convention in August of 2006. This was far from being her first incursion in federal politics.
Back during the federal general election on February 18, 1980, Elizabeth had been one of the founders of “the Small Party”, a political party established to raise environmental and anti-nuclear issues. The Small Party ran 12 candidates in six different provinces. Elizabeth, then a twenty-five-year-old waitress, ran against the Honourable Allan J. MacEachen, the incumbent Liberal Deputy Prime Minister, in the Nova Scotia riding of Cape Breton Highlands-Canso. Elizabeth finished fourth.
As the new Green Party Leader, Elizabeth ran in the Ontario riding of London North Centre in a Canadian federal by-election on November 27, 2006. She finished second.
In the federal election of October 14th, 2008, she ran against the Honourable Peter MacKay, incumbent Conservative Minister of Defence, in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova. Elizabeth finished second.
In the federal election of May 2, 2011, Elizabeth defeated the Honourable Gary Lunn, incumbent Conservative Minister of State for Sport, by a margin of 7,346 votes in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
Finally, on October 15, 2015, Elizabeth was re-elected in Saanich-Gulf Islands by a margin of 23,810 votes, more than tripling her majority. Interesting to note, Elizabeth’s daughter Victoria Cate May Burton ran unsuccessfully as the Green Party candidate in the Québec riding of Berthier-Maskinongé against the incumbent New Democrat Ruth Ellen Brosseau.
When asked, “What are the major issues that you want to discuss with the Canadian electorate during the upcoming electoral campaign?” Elizabeth proposed an interesting list of concerns: the climate crisis, affordable housing, the health care system, pharmacare, young people, and student debt.
When asked: “Where on the political spectrum would you place the Green Party?” Elizabeth’s answer was that the old political spectrum cannot be applied to the Greens because, on environmental issues, certainly to the left, but on the Green measures of fiscal restraint: balancing the budget and living within our means, more to the right.
Elizabeth would see herself as a Prime Minister who would focus on establishing consensus. She never would have pressured the Attorney General of Canada if she had been the Prime Minister faced with the SNC-Lavalin situation.
Elizabeth would like for Canada to play more of a leadership role on the international stage. She would like Canada to go off fossil fuels. She sees Canada capable of doubling our targets in the struggle with climate change.
Considering the recent victory of the Green Party candidate in the federal by-election in British Columbia doubling the number of Green Members of Parliament, and the successes of the provincial Green parties in recent provincial elections in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario, and British Columbia, Elizabeth is very optimistic about favourable results for Green Party candidates in the upcoming federal general election.
When asked the “Elephant in the Corner” question, “ Would you accept a cabinet post in a Coalition Minority Government?” Elizabeth did not back away: the Greens would work with the other parties. Internationally, the Green Party is involved in many coalition governments in Europe.
Elizabeth has been the recipient of many awards over the years. Here is a sampling: in November of 2005, Elizabeth was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of her “decades of leadership in the Canadian environmental movement”. In November of 2010, Newsweek Magazine named her “one of the world’s most influential women”. Each year, Maclean’s Magazine organizes an awards ceremony in which MPs recognize the achievements and hard work of their colleagues. In 2012, May was voted by her colleagues in the House of Commons as Parliamentarian of the Year, in 2013 she was voted Hardest Working MP, and in 2014 she was voted Best Orator. In 2012, Elizabeth was awarded the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
I wish the best of luck to Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, in her future endeavours!
