B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau stepping down

VICTORIA — B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau says she is stepping down.

Furstenau says she never aspired to be an elected official but is leaving her role as leader of the province’s third party feeling a great sense of accomplishment

She was first elected to represent Cowichan Valley in 2017, but failed to win a seat in the legislature last October when she changed ridings and ran in Victoria.

Furstenau, who is 54 years old, says after the election that she would stay on as leader to help the two newly elected Green members, Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell, navigate the prospect of having the balance of power in the legislature.

But a series of recounts denied the Greens that power and David Eby’s NDP came away with 47 seats and a one-seat majority.

Valeriote will now serve as interim leader until a new leader can be selected.

The Greens were first elected to the B.C. Legislature in 2017, when its three members held the balance of power in the NDP government’s minority government.

Furstenau became party leader in 2020, shortly before then-premier John Horgan called a mid-pandemic election and won re-election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2025.

The Canadian Press