Elizabeth May Resigns as Canada’s Green Party Leader

(Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth May resigned as the leader of Canada’s Green Party, two weeks after the federal election that gave the party its best result with three seats.

May said Monday in Ottawa she will stay on as parliamentary leader of the Green Party caucus, and that Jo-Ann Roberts, formerly deputy leader, will take over as leader. May, member of parliament for the southern Vancouver Island riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, was first elected in 2011.

The Oct. 21 vote was a divisive one that saw Justin Trudeau’s Liberals win the most seats but still come up short of a majority, meaning they will need the support of smaller parties to pass legislation. Though the seat count was a record for the Greens, it was still far fewer than the dozen May had been hoping for going into the election, as climate change became one of the front-and-center issues for voters.

The Greens captured 6.5% of the popular vote, according to a poll tracker from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

--With assistance from Erik Hertzberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Ottawa at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Stephen Wicary

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