Green Party makes history, winning first seat as May unseats B.C. Tory minister

SIDNEY, B.C. – Green leader Elizabeth May became her party’s first-ever elected MP Monday night, in a shocking election upset that punted a long-time Tory cabinet minister from his Victoria-area riding.

As Canadians tried to catch their breath after seismic political shifts everywhere in the country, May’s win in one of the westernmost ridings was a late-evening stunner.

May defeated Conservative Gary Lunn, who had represented Saanich-Gulf Islands since he was elected as a Reformer in 1997.

May said she’d head to Ottawa with the goal of trying to bring civility to the House of Commons by adopting a “balanced approach.”

“I stand here today as the first elected Green member of Parliament in Canadian history,” she said to loud cheers.

“I remain committed, as I’ve been throughout this campaign, to rejecting the politics of cynicism of fear, to embracing hope and to bringing respect back to our House of Commons.”

May captured about 47 per cent of the popular vote in the riding, compared to the Green showing of about 10 per cent in the last election when the party placed third in the riding. Lunn had about 34 per cent of the vote, compared to his win in 2008 with 43 per cent.

May said she received a gracious call of congratulations from Lunn.

Lunn tried to paint some sunshine on his loss. He said his defeat is not relevant in the face of his party’s majority.

“If I could pick my seat or a majority, I’d pick a majority 10 times over, because you’ve got to be here for a bigger cause,” said Lunn.

“You’ve got to be here for the big picture. The prime minister deserves this. He’ll put the country on the right track and I am so proud of him. That’s what it’s all about.”

The Green Party’s campaign revolved around the leader, a long-time environmental activist with national name recognition who moved from one coast to the other following her previous election loss to increase her chances of winning this time around. The party made a collective decision to dump everything it had into getting her elected.

The Greens dubbed election day May Day and May’s campaign received much local attention, particularly after she was shut out of the televised leaders debates. She had been included for the 2008 campaign.

May had the last laugh on election night.

“More than once, it’s occurred to me one of my favourite phrases, which is of course: Amateurs built the arc. Professionals built the Titanic.”

But the strategy cost the party overall. The Greens received four per cent of the popular vote nationally, well down from the seven per cent the party received in 2008.

Norman Ruff, a retired political science professor at the University of Victoria, said May has passed an important hurdle by winning a seat in the House of Commons.

But she will soon find she’s a lone voice among 308 MPs. She will have at least as difficult a time getting access to opposition funding and questions in question period as she did getting elected.

“I think the opportunities for her to have influence in Ottawa are going to be somewhat less than she thinks,” Ruff said.

May was not daunted.

She told supporters she knows her work is just beginning.

“We have to prove to all of Canada that one MP for the Green party, one MP with a different approach, one MP not squashed by partisanship and entangled in cynicism can actually make a big difference,” she said.

She said she is worried that Harper will use his majority to permit oil tankers to travel the West Coast, start oil drilling in coastal waters and allow the development of the Enbridge pipeline to the B.C. north coast.

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