Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May
OC MP
May in 2014
Leader of the Green Party
Assumed office
November 19, 2022
Co-leader with Jonathan Pedneault (2025)
Deputy
  • Jonathan Pedneault (2022–2024)
  • Angela Davidson (2024–present)
Preceded byAmita Kuttner (interim)
In office
August 26, 2006 – November 4, 2019
Deputy
  • Adriane Carr
  • Claude Genest
  • Jacques Rivard
  • Georges Laraque
  • Bruce Hyer
  • Daniel Green
  • Jo-Ann Roberts
Preceded byJim Harris
Succeeded byJo-Ann Roberts (interim)
Parliamentary leader of the Green Party
In office
November 4, 2019 – November 19, 2022
Leader
  • Jo-Ann Roberts (interim)
  • Annamie Paul
  • Amita Kuttner (interim)
Preceded byherself (as party leader)
Succeeded byherself (as party leader)
Member of Parliament
for Saanich—Gulf Islands
Assumed office
May 2, 2011
Preceded byGary Lunn
Personal details
Born
Elizabeth Evans May

(1954-06-09) June 9, 1954
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Nationality
  • Canadian
  • American (until 1978)
Political partyGreen
Spouse
John Kidder
(m. 2019)
Children1
RelativesMargot Kidder (sister-in-law)
Eric Peterson (brother-in-law)
Alma materDalhousie University
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
  • writer

Elizabeth Evans May OC MP (born June 9, 1954) is a Canadian politician, environmentalist, lawyer, activist, and author. She has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Saanich—Gulf Islands since 2011. May is the leader of the Green Party of Canada, having first held the position from 2006 to 2019. She returned to the leadership in 2022, initially as co-leader with Jonathan Pedneault and is now serving as the party's sole and outgoing leader following his resignation.

May is the longest-serving female leader of a Canadian federal party, and the first member of the Green Party to be elected to the House of Commons. From 1989 to 2006, she was the executive director of the Sierra Club Canada.

In 2005, May was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and the United Nations has recognized her as one of the world's leading women environmentalists.[1] She is the author of eight books, including her memoir Who We Are – Reflections of My Life and Canada, which was a Globe and Mail bestseller.

  1. ^ "Elizabeth May". global500.org. Retrieved September 13, 2019.