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In the last weeks of B.C.’s legislative session, Green Party Leader Emily Lowan has been a long way from Victoria.
The 25-year-old leader, who doesn’t have a seat in the legislature, is in the midst of a provincewide tour.
She’s held court in a packed pizzeria in Kamloops, an electric hybrid truck facility in Golden, and rang the intercoms of mansion in Vancouver’s Billionaire’s Row — including two homes belonging to Lululemon founder Chip Wilson.
Many of the communities she’s visiting, Lowan says, are on the frontlines of “corporate resource theft.”
Lowan, wearing a camo-patterned “Dump the Oligarchs” hat while speaking to CBC News over a video call from the Prince Rupert library, says she’s keen to hear from locals firsthand.
“I wanted to offer a platform and a microphone to them to share their experience,” she said.
This tour is also an effort to build strength for the Green Party across the province, as speculation builds about an early election call.
Lowan became leader in September, after former leader Sonia Furstenau lost her seat last year in an election where the Greens had two first-time MLAs elected into the legislature.
One of the first tests of the strength of this new team are renegotiations that have just begun on a co-operation agreement with the governing B.C. NDP – and whether they can secure commitments from the government on key priorities including taxation, the climate and electoral reform.
The B.C. Green Party has chosen Victoria-based climate activist Emily Lowan as its new leader. Former leader Sonia Furstenau stepped down after losing her seat in the October election. Meera Bains has more on what this could mean for the party.
In the current Co-operation and Responsible Government Accord (CARGA) with the NDP, the parties agree on shared priorities, in exchange for the Green MLAs supporting the government in some confidence votes.
“They’re one of the smaller parties, and yet they have this real influence,” said Michael MacKenzie, a political studies professor at Vancouver Island University.
Tax reform likely part of negotiations
The Greens have successfully pushed for a committee on electoral reform and a review of the CleanBC climate action plan — however, forcing the NDP to adopt stricter climate measures has proved more difficult.
“How much influence and power the Greens have really depends on the New Democrats’ perception of electoral fortunes,” said Sonia Theroux, a political organizer and former consultant for the B.C. Greens.
Lowan’s flagship tax reform plans could prove difficult to make politically palatable for the NDP, she said.
Plans announced this fall outline seven potential tax reforms — including the creation of new personal income brackets, while raising taxes for the top two brackets by one per cent, and reintroducing a pre-2006 corporate tax rate.
And although B.C. Green Party membership has been on the rise, Theroux said months of turmoil within the B.C. Conservatives — culminating in the resignation of former leader John Rustad — could embolden the NDP.
The Greens are not without their own differences — something Theroux says could prove to be a strength.
She says Lowan is “bringing whimsy and fun back into politics,” while focusing on her tax reform plans in a populist leadership style inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Her two MLAs, who were not interested in joining the leadership race, are retired lawyer Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote, an engineer who spent a decade in local governance.
“I really honour and support Emily’s efforts to paint the vision of how we could have a different approach to politics in B.C.,” said Botterell.
“Jeremy, my colleague, and I are doing everything we can in the legislature with the tools we have to advance the various things that are in CARGA and to hold the government to account.”
Valeriote, for his part, told reporters this week that without a strong official opposition, he sees the Greens as a key force to hold the NDP accountable — something he hopes the CARGA renegotiations will provide an opportunity for.
In spite of the challenges ahead, Lowan says she finds herself strangely optimistic.
At an event in the village of Hazelton, she had just two RSVPs — but was met with about 40 people excited to hear her speak.
“I talk about corporate capture and resource theft, but we can’t dwell on that,” she said.
“We need to give people a vision, and a sense of hope and direction.”
