B.C. Green Party votes in climate activist Emily Lowan as new leader

VICTORIA — Little more than five years ago, Emily Lowan ran and won a spot on the student council at the University of Victoria. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old climate activist celebrated her election as the new leader of the British Columbia Green Party.

“It’s like every molecule in my body is buzzing,” Lowan said during her first question-and-answer session with reporters after learning she was the new leader.

Lowan won with 3,189 first-place votes, ahead of second-place Jonathan Kerr with 1,908 votes, while Adam Bremner-Akins finished third with 128 votes. A total of 8,641 eligible members cast their votes in the ranked-ballot election for a turnout of 61 per cent.

When Lowan won her campaign to become the university’s campaigns and community relations director, she promised to lobby the University of Victoria to “fully” de-invest itself from fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and refinement companies.

Five years later, Lowan offers a comparable message, promising to build a “formidable political movement strong enough to take on this province’s billionaires, its largest corporations, and big oil, who take far more than they give.”

Lowan learned of her victory in a Victoria hotel room packed with party members, and many leapt off their chairs, when the results were announced.

“This campaign was electrifying,” Lowan said during her acceptance speech. “It was a lightning rod of hope. We brought in thousands of new members to this party, many of whom were completely disillusioned with politics.”

“Together, we can make this party a force of nature,” she said.

Lowan said she now plans to build on the momentum with an extensive tour of the province, which she jokingly said was “loosely titled ‘Fight the Oligarchs.'”

“I think what I have made clear over the course of this campaign is that I want to tax billionaires out of existence, not regular people, middle, upper-income people,” she said, when asked how her message might land with wealthier voters in Green ridings.

“We have a select subset of billionaires in B.C. and they are scattered across the province,” she added. “This campaign and my message and platform should be a wake-up call to them in the ways that they have hoarded wealth and aren’t paying their fair share back to regular people in B.C.”

Lowan also described her election as a “wake-up” call to the governing New Democrats under Premier David Eby, whose party can no longer take “progressive” voters for granted.

She doesn’t have a seat in the legislature, but said she plans to run in the next “viable” byelection or in a general election, adding that being outside the legislature, also has the “historic advantage” of being able to build up the party.

Two Greens are currently sitting in the legislature, Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote, who has been acting as the interim leader of the party.

The party signed a co-operation and responsible government accord with New Democrats after David Eby won a narrow victory over the B.C. Conservatives in last year’s election.

Lowan said that the Greens should consider an “expedited” re-negotiating of pact, which is reviewable annually.

When asked whether the Greens might not help the NDP in tight-voting situations, Lowan said the party needs a “leader, who is going to be bold and critical” of the governing party.

Lowan, who is based in Victoria, said she will be involved in major decisions from the party in the legislature.

“I won’t stand to be tokenized and for my strategic direction to be undermined, because that is how youth are often used in movements, and in politics,” she said. “They are used to bring in more people, and build the profile of the party, but their political direction and strategy aren’t fully taken into account.”

But Lowan said she is confident that she will have a strong working relation with both MLAs and that they will reach consensus on key decisions.

She acknowledged that there will always be people who are going to be skeptical of her age, her experience, and maybe her gender.

“What I’m focused on now is not convincing them, but just going out there and getting the results that I need to build the power of this party, and to bring more people on side … that strategy boils down to our working-class message, and the fact that there are billionaires and corporations in this province that are calling the shots in the premier’s office.”

Former leader Sonia Furstenau lost her bid for re-election in last year’s election and stepped down from the post in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2025.