BC Greens vote in climate activist Emily Lowan as new leader

Emily Lowan, a 25-year-old climate activist, is the new leader of the Green Party of British Columbia.

Lowan won on the first ballot with 3,189 votes, ahead of second-place Jonathan Kerr with 1,908 votes. Adam Bremner-Akins finished third with 128 votes.

She will replace Sonia Furstenau, who had been leader since 2020 but announced she would step down after failing to be re-elected in the last provincial election.

“Our bold, progressive vision has captured the imagination of a new generation of green members and voters,” said Lowan at a media event Wednesday.

“We brought in thousands of new members to this party, many of whom were completely disillusioned with politics… And clearly, many people who have been Green Party members for a long time are ready for something new. Thank you for placing your trust in me.”

In a news release from the start of her campaign, she promised to focus on “stopping major projects that ignore Indigenous rights, implementing vacancy control, lowering the cost of living, and taxing the ultrarich.”

She says those changes would allow the province to invest in affordable housing, free public transit and “good green jobs.”

‘Relatively green’

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at UBC, says Lowan may bring a new energy to the party.

“I think there is going to be a great deal of appeal to particularly younger voters, who perhaps don’t feel like they have a home in the previous version of the Greens or the NDP, looking for a more assertive, more radical approach to politics,” said Prest.

He says Lowan’s age and priorities may put the party at risk of alienating a “dwindling” but important group of older Green voters.

“It comes at the cost of having a leader who others will look at as relatively ‘green,’ relatively inexperienced, and perhaps not able to make common cause with voters of an older cohort who are facing different challenges, but for them, no less serious challenges.”

Prest says the new leader now faces her own challenge to run and find a seat in the Legislature.

“There are only so many options on the electoral map where a Green candidate has a realistic chance of even competing,” said Prest.

“There is no obvious choice. And wherever Ms. Lowan looks to run and to build the campaign, it’s going to be an uphill climb.”

Until that time, he says he’ll be interested to see how she leads the party without a seat.

—With files from Kate Walker