Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is returning to Parliament, but she won’t be joined by her Victoria counterpart.
May handily took her home riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, defeating her next closest opponent, Conservative John Boyd, by more than 20,000 votes.
“Tom Mulcair just called to congratulate me for being re-elected,” May said to a room full of raucous supporters in Victoria.
And with that, May was already talking about how her party would interact with the newly declared Liberal majority government under Justin Trudeau.
“I can also report that before that happened, I called Justin Trudeau, spoke to him, congratulate him on forming government, and asked when we could have our first meeting on the climate conference that starts next month,” she said.
In a one-on-one interview after she was declared the victor, May said she was happy to see leadership of the country change hands.
“I’m very very happy because I’m a Canadian who knows Stephen Harper has been wrecking this country, and Canadian voters have given a firm repudiation to Conservative policies," she told CTV's Scott Cunningham.
While May said she would've prefered to see a Liberal minority government, she could live with the results. “I was hoping to see more cooperation, however, it is what it is," she said.
CTV News projected a win for the NDP's Murray Rankin in May's neighbouring riding of Victoria, meaning the Green Party's next best hope, Jo-Ann Roberts, wouldn't be joining her in Parliament.
May said she believes the party enjoyed widespread support on the Island, but people felt the need to vote strategically.
"I'll hold them to that, because I know we have a ton of support out here," she said. "The fear factor, as I've said throughout the campaign, has been very hard to have people who genuinely want to vote Green."
Roberts was widely considered the party's best hope for increasing its seat count, especially after Deputy Green Party Leader Bruce Hyer trailed in early polls in his riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North.
