Green Party of British Columbia - Founding and Early Years

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 election 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.