Green Party MLA Adam Olsen speaks at the Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on November 2, 2017. The B.C. Green party is to reveal today who will become interim leader after Andrew Weaver steps down in January. A release from the party says Green politician Adam Olsen, the elected member for Saanich North and the Islands, is to make the announcement.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
December 20, 2019 - 4:30 PM
VICTORIA - Legislature member Adam Olsen will serve as interim leader of B.C.'s Green party until a leadership contest that wraps up on June 27.
Andrew Weaver officially steps down as the party's leader on Jan. 6.
The party's provincial council has outlined the rules for the leadership race, which will allow people who are not members of the B.C. Greens to vote.
It says any B.C. resident who is 16 or older can support a leadership candidate, as long as they don't actively support another political party.
Olsen, who represents Saanich North and the Islands, says an agreement the Greens have with the New Democrats won't change because all caucus members from both parties signed the deal that helps the NDP minority government to function.
This is Olsen's second term as interim leader after he served before Weaver was acclaimed in December 2015.
Weaver said in October that he would not run in the 2021 provincial election, but planned to remain in the legislature until then to represent his Victoria-area riding.
He was first elected in 2013 and led the party to a breakthrough in 2017 when the Greens captured three seats in the house, all of them on Vancouver Island.
When he announced his resignation, Weaver said it was "time to let another generation take the lead."
Olsen says the party has grown since 2013.
"We've got 12 staff here, we've got three MLAs, we've played a really important role in the legislature, providing balance, providing a thoughtful critique of initiatives that the government is doing."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2019.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2019