VANCOUVER – The leader of B.C.’s Green party says she plans to stay at the helm after an election breakthrough that saw the first Green elected to the provincial legislature.

The party captured eight per cent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s election, and Green candidate and climate scientist Andrew Weaver won his riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head, defeating a Liberal cabinet minister.

Before the election, Jane Sterk had suggested she would likely step down as leader if she didn’t win her own riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill, which NDP incumbent Carole James held onto by a margin of nearly 3,500 votes.

But Sterk says the party’s chair, executive director, and Weaver met with her the morning after the election and urged her to stay on as leader, and she told them she will.

Sterk says she will now focus on supporting Weaver’s work in the legislature, while continuing to build the party and ensuring there are strong candidates in place for the next election four years from now.

Sterk will still face a routine leadership review at the party’s annual general meeting later this year.