Elizabeth May, OC (born June 9, 1954) is an American-born Canadian MP elect, environmentalist, writer, activist, lawyer, and the leader of the Green Party of Canada. She was the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada from 1989 to 2006. She became a Canadian citizen in 1978.
May's permanent residence is in Sidney, British Columbia. Her family home is in Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton Island. On May 2, 2011, she became the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada, defeating the incumbent, Gary Lunn.
Sierra Club of Canada Executive Director
In 1989, May became the founding Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada. May sits on the boards of the International Institute of Sustainable Development and Prevent Cancer Now! She is a former vice-chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
In 2001, May went on a 17-day hunger strike in front of Parliament Hill to demand the relocation of families at risk next to Canada’s largest toxic waste site, the Sydney tar ponds in Cape Breton. She had co-authored a book on the tar ponds with Maude Barlow. As a result, the federal government pledged to relocate people living nearby to a safer location. After that, May was involved in lobbying Paul Martin, then Minister of Finance, that gross domestic product was not a viable measure of economic performance, a position Martin clearly advanced in public in Canada through 2003.
Leader of Green Party of Canada
On May 9, 2006, May entered the Green Party of Canada's leadership race. She announced her intent to make the party "a force". She cited the "major planetary catastrophe" and "climate crisis" and the "crisis of democracy" as primary issues. "I find myself despairing when I see four men in suits engaging in a debate where nothing important is said… if the voters get to hear a whole bunch of really exciting new ideas, they might like them… instead of trying to do a calculation of who they hate the least.
London North Centre by-election
In the fall of 2006, London North Centre Member of Parliament Joe Fontana announced he was resigning his seat to run for Mayor of London, Ontario. Prime Minister Stephen Harper scheduled a by-election for that seat on November 27, 2006, and May stood as the candidate for the Green Party. She shocked some analysts who when she finished second to Glen Pearson of the Liberal Party, ahead of the Conservative and New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates. At the time, May's showing in this by-election was the best result, in terms of percentage, ever achieved by the Green Party of Canada. She received 9,864 votes, about 26% of the total votes cast.
2008 federal election
On March 17, 2007, May announced that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, in the next federal election. Central Nova is located on mainland Nova Scotia, rather than Cape Breton Island where May once lived. However, it is adjacent to the Cape Breton-Canso riding in which May previously expressed interest, and overlaps with the area covered by the former Cape Breton Highlands—Canso riding in which she ran in 1980 as founder of the "Small Party". The riding was held by Conservative National Defence Minister Peter MacKay. May has explained that she chose Central Nova to avoid running against a Liberal or NDP incumbent. She acknowledged, however, that this would be a more difficult riding for her to win than others she had considered. May received 32% of the vote in Central Nova in 2006 to MacKay's 47%.
Coalition government support
On December 2, 2008, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion spoke to May about Green Party support for the coalition government of the possible Liberal-NDP coalition government. However the coalition ultimately fell apart. After Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote, Liberal leader Dion resigned and was replaced by Michael Ignatieff, and when parliament finally resumed in January, 2009, the Liberal Party decided to support the Conservative government's new proposed budget. While parliament was prorogued, Harper also announced his intention to fill all current and upcoming Senate vacancies.
2011 federal election
May ran as the Green Party candidate and won in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, in British Columbia. She faced Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn, who has held the seat for the past twelve years. May had considered the Ontario riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound where the Green Party received over 27% of the vote in 2008, and the riding of Guelph, where the Green Party received 21% of the vote.
On March 29, 2011 the broadcast consortium organizing the televised leaders' debate for the 2011 federal election announced that it would not invite May. May publicly condemned the decision as "anti-democratic in the extreme".
Despite her exclusion from the major leader debates, she won her riding, defeating the incumbent Gary Lunn. She was the only Green party candidate to be elected. May is the first ever elected Green Party MP in Canada.
Background
May was born in Hartford, Connecticut to a British father and American mother; she has a younger brother named Geoffrey. Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and one of the original founders of the peace group SANE while her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty.
May attended Renbrook School and the prestigious Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. Her family was rooted in the Welsh Congregationalist tradition of free thinking on religious beliefs.
The family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1972 following a summer vacation spent on Cape Breton Island. On moving to the province, the May family purchased and restored a land-locked schooner, the Marion Elizabeth, in which a restaurant and gift shop was housed. Although the business had been closed for several years before being purchased by the Mays, it became a popular spot along the Cabot Trail. Launched in 1918, and named after the wife and daughter of the ship's first captain, the Marion Elizabeth was the only authentic Bluenose fishing schooner and was built by the Lunenberg, Nova Scotia firm Smith and Rhuland. Farley Mowat also gave the Mays his schooner, the Happy Adventure, which was featured in his book, The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float, and was displayed next to the gift shop.The restaurant and gift shop operated from 1974 until 2002 when the property was expropriated for an expanded highway bridge carrying Route 19 across the Margaree River.
Heavy financial losses in the early years of the family business made it impossible for Elizabeth and her brother to go to university. Elizabeth briefly enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University in 1974, but had to leave when she didn’t have enough money for tuition. Returning to Margaree, she took correspondence courses in restaurant management. Elizabeth May does not have an undergraduate degree. In 1980, she worked her way through Dalhousie Law School as a mature student, with then Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, writing her a letter of reference.
In 1975, following the move to Margaree Harbour, Elizabeth May joined with other local residents in a grassroots effort to stop approved aerial insecticide spraying over the forests of Cape Breton Island. The group “Cape Breton Landowners Against the Spray” was the focus of Elizabeth May’s volunteer effort from 1975-79. Swedish multinational Stora owned the local pulp and paper mill and held licenses to harvest the forests of eastern Nova Scotia. Stora wanted the government to pay for spraying the now-banned, organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion to counter the epidemic of spruce budworm. Within months the provincial government agreed to cancel the permits due to health concerns. The budworm outbreak later collapsed of natural causes. The issue was the subject of Elizabeth May's first book, Budworm Battles, as well as CBC program The Fifth Estate in a segment called “Miss May's War”, and a National Film Board documentary called Budworks.
Personal life
May lives in Sidney, British Columbia with her daughter, Victoria Cate May Burton (born 1991). She is studying theology at Saint Paul University, and describes herself as a practising Anglican.
She has indicated that her path towards becoming an ordained minister with the Anglican Church does not clash with her role in the Green Party of Canada, and sees a clear separation between religion and politics.
Controversial statements
Stance on abortion
The Green Party's policy is described as “pro-life, pro-choice”, confirming support for legal safe abortions, while also finding ways to support women who find themselves facing economic hardship and wanting to have a child. According to Green Vision 2010, Green Party MPs will "oppose any possible government move to diminish the right of a woman to a safe, legal abortion. We fully support a woman's right to choose. We will also expand programs in reproductive rights and education to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and expand supports for low-income mothers.
During a visit to the Mount St. Joseph's convent in London, Ontario, May responded to a nun's question about abortion by explaining her personal position, which included the statement that "I don't think a woman has a frivolous right to choose. May maintains that this comment was misinterpreted. Following reports of May's statements, prominent Canadian feminist Judy Rebick announced that she was withdrawing her previous support of May and the Green Party due to May's questioning "the most important victory of the women's movement of my generation.
Chamberlain analogy
In April 2007, during a speech by May to a London, Ontario United Church of Canada, she quoted British author George Monbiot stating, in reference to climate policy, that "In the eyes of history, John Howard, George Bush, and Stephen Harper will be judged more culpable than Neville Chamberlain. The statement drew criticism from the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Conservative Party. While Opposition leader Stéphane Dion refused to respond to Harper's request for him to distance himself from May and these remarks during Question Period, Dion did state to reporters outside Commons that May should withdraw the remarks, and that the Nazi regime is beyond any comparison.
May's permanent residence is in Sidney, British Columbia. Her family home is in Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton Island. On May 2, 2011, she became the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada, defeating the incumbent, Gary Lunn.
Sierra Club of Canada Executive Director
In 1989, May became the founding Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada. May sits on the boards of the International Institute of Sustainable Development and Prevent Cancer Now! She is a former vice-chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
In 2001, May went on a 17-day hunger strike in front of Parliament Hill to demand the relocation of families at risk next to Canada’s largest toxic waste site, the Sydney tar ponds in Cape Breton. She had co-authored a book on the tar ponds with Maude Barlow. As a result, the federal government pledged to relocate people living nearby to a safer location. After that, May was involved in lobbying Paul Martin, then Minister of Finance, that gross domestic product was not a viable measure of economic performance, a position Martin clearly advanced in public in Canada through 2003.
Leader of Green Party of Canada
On May 9, 2006, May entered the Green Party of Canada's leadership race. She announced her intent to make the party "a force". She cited the "major planetary catastrophe" and "climate crisis" and the "crisis of democracy" as primary issues. "I find myself despairing when I see four men in suits engaging in a debate where nothing important is said… if the voters get to hear a whole bunch of really exciting new ideas, they might like them… instead of trying to do a calculation of who they hate the least.
London North Centre by-election
In the fall of 2006, London North Centre Member of Parliament Joe Fontana announced he was resigning his seat to run for Mayor of London, Ontario. Prime Minister Stephen Harper scheduled a by-election for that seat on November 27, 2006, and May stood as the candidate for the Green Party. She shocked some analysts who when she finished second to Glen Pearson of the Liberal Party, ahead of the Conservative and New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates. At the time, May's showing in this by-election was the best result, in terms of percentage, ever achieved by the Green Party of Canada. She received 9,864 votes, about 26% of the total votes cast.
2008 federal election
On March 17, 2007, May announced that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, in the next federal election. Central Nova is located on mainland Nova Scotia, rather than Cape Breton Island where May once lived. However, it is adjacent to the Cape Breton-Canso riding in which May previously expressed interest, and overlaps with the area covered by the former Cape Breton Highlands—Canso riding in which she ran in 1980 as founder of the "Small Party". The riding was held by Conservative National Defence Minister Peter MacKay. May has explained that she chose Central Nova to avoid running against a Liberal or NDP incumbent. She acknowledged, however, that this would be a more difficult riding for her to win than others she had considered. May received 32% of the vote in Central Nova in 2006 to MacKay's 47%.
Coalition government support
On December 2, 2008, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion spoke to May about Green Party support for the coalition government of the possible Liberal-NDP coalition government. However the coalition ultimately fell apart. After Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote, Liberal leader Dion resigned and was replaced by Michael Ignatieff, and when parliament finally resumed in January, 2009, the Liberal Party decided to support the Conservative government's new proposed budget. While parliament was prorogued, Harper also announced his intention to fill all current and upcoming Senate vacancies.
2011 federal election
May ran as the Green Party candidate and won in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, in British Columbia. She faced Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn, who has held the seat for the past twelve years. May had considered the Ontario riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound where the Green Party received over 27% of the vote in 2008, and the riding of Guelph, where the Green Party received 21% of the vote.
On March 29, 2011 the broadcast consortium organizing the televised leaders' debate for the 2011 federal election announced that it would not invite May. May publicly condemned the decision as "anti-democratic in the extreme".
Despite her exclusion from the major leader debates, she won her riding, defeating the incumbent Gary Lunn. She was the only Green party candidate to be elected. May is the first ever elected Green Party MP in Canada.
Background
May was born in Hartford, Connecticut to a British father and American mother; she has a younger brother named Geoffrey. Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and one of the original founders of the peace group SANE while her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty.
May attended Renbrook School and the prestigious Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. Her family was rooted in the Welsh Congregationalist tradition of free thinking on religious beliefs.
The family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1972 following a summer vacation spent on Cape Breton Island. On moving to the province, the May family purchased and restored a land-locked schooner, the Marion Elizabeth, in which a restaurant and gift shop was housed. Although the business had been closed for several years before being purchased by the Mays, it became a popular spot along the Cabot Trail. Launched in 1918, and named after the wife and daughter of the ship's first captain, the Marion Elizabeth was the only authentic Bluenose fishing schooner and was built by the Lunenberg, Nova Scotia firm Smith and Rhuland. Farley Mowat also gave the Mays his schooner, the Happy Adventure, which was featured in his book, The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float, and was displayed next to the gift shop.The restaurant and gift shop operated from 1974 until 2002 when the property was expropriated for an expanded highway bridge carrying Route 19 across the Margaree River.
Heavy financial losses in the early years of the family business made it impossible for Elizabeth and her brother to go to university. Elizabeth briefly enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University in 1974, but had to leave when she didn’t have enough money for tuition. Returning to Margaree, she took correspondence courses in restaurant management. Elizabeth May does not have an undergraduate degree. In 1980, she worked her way through Dalhousie Law School as a mature student, with then Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, writing her a letter of reference.
In 1975, following the move to Margaree Harbour, Elizabeth May joined with other local residents in a grassroots effort to stop approved aerial insecticide spraying over the forests of Cape Breton Island. The group “Cape Breton Landowners Against the Spray” was the focus of Elizabeth May’s volunteer effort from 1975-79. Swedish multinational Stora owned the local pulp and paper mill and held licenses to harvest the forests of eastern Nova Scotia. Stora wanted the government to pay for spraying the now-banned, organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion to counter the epidemic of spruce budworm. Within months the provincial government agreed to cancel the permits due to health concerns. The budworm outbreak later collapsed of natural causes. The issue was the subject of Elizabeth May's first book, Budworm Battles, as well as CBC program The Fifth Estate in a segment called “Miss May's War”, and a National Film Board documentary called Budworks.
Personal life
May lives in Sidney, British Columbia with her daughter, Victoria Cate May Burton (born 1991). She is studying theology at Saint Paul University, and describes herself as a practising Anglican.
She has indicated that her path towards becoming an ordained minister with the Anglican Church does not clash with her role in the Green Party of Canada, and sees a clear separation between religion and politics.
Controversial statements
Stance on abortion
The Green Party's policy is described as “pro-life, pro-choice”, confirming support for legal safe abortions, while also finding ways to support women who find themselves facing economic hardship and wanting to have a child. According to Green Vision 2010, Green Party MPs will "oppose any possible government move to diminish the right of a woman to a safe, legal abortion. We fully support a woman's right to choose. We will also expand programs in reproductive rights and education to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and expand supports for low-income mothers.
During a visit to the Mount St. Joseph's convent in London, Ontario, May responded to a nun's question about abortion by explaining her personal position, which included the statement that "I don't think a woman has a frivolous right to choose. May maintains that this comment was misinterpreted. Following reports of May's statements, prominent Canadian feminist Judy Rebick announced that she was withdrawing her previous support of May and the Green Party due to May's questioning "the most important victory of the women's movement of my generation.
Chamberlain analogy
In April 2007, during a speech by May to a London, Ontario United Church of Canada, she quoted British author George Monbiot stating, in reference to climate policy, that "In the eyes of history, John Howard, George Bush, and Stephen Harper will be judged more culpable than Neville Chamberlain. The statement drew criticism from the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Conservative Party. While Opposition leader Stéphane Dion refused to respond to Harper's request for him to distance himself from May and these remarks during Question Period, Dion did state to reporters outside Commons that May should withdraw the remarks, and that the Nazi regime is beyond any comparison.
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