Elizabeth May

On moving to the province, the May family purchased a landlocked schooner, the Marion Elizabeth which had been used as a gift shop and restaurant since the mid 1950s.

Elizabeth Evans May (born June 9, 1954) is an American-born Canadian politician, environmentalist, author, activist, and lawyer who is serving as the leader of the Green Party of Canada since 2022, and previously served as the leader from 2006 to 2019.

May first became known in the Canadian media in the mid-1970s through her leadership as a volunteer in the grassroots movement against proposed aerial insecticide spraying on forests near her home on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

The effort prevented aerial insecticide spraying from ever occurring in Nova Scotia.

Years later, she and a local group of residents went to court to prevent herbicide spraying.

The family moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1972, following a summer vacation spent on Cape Breton Island.

They operated this establishment from 1974 until 2002.

May briefly enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University in 1974, but dropped out.

Returning to Margaree, May took correspondence courses in restaurant management.

Beginning in 1980, she attended Dalhousie Law School as a mature student, graduating in 1983.

Following law school at Dalhousie University, May worked as an associate at small law firm in Halifax.

May studied theology at Saint Paul University, a federated college of the University of Ottawa.

In 1980, May and others launched a political party to raise environmental and anti-nuclear issues dubbed "the Small Party".

Winning a temporary injunction in 1982 held off the spray programme, but after two years, the case was eventually lost.

In the course of the litigation, her family sacrificed their home and seventy acres of land in an adverse court ruling to Scott Paper.

However, by the time the judge ruled the chemicals were safe, 2,4,5-T's export from the U.S. had been banned.

The forests of Nova Scotia were spared from being the last areas in Canada to be sprayed with Agent Orange.

She attended St. Francis Xavier University, graduated from Dalhousie University with a law degree in 1983, and later studied theology at Saint Paul University for which she told the Anglican Journal in a 2013 interview that she had to withdraw from the program due to conflicting schedule demands.

Following her graduation from Dalhousie University, May worked as an environmental lawyer in Halifax before moving to Ottawa in 1985, joining the Public Interest Advocacy Centre as the associate general counsel.

In 1986, she was named Senior Policy Advisor to Thomas McMillan, then-Environment Minister in the Progressive Conservative Mulroney government.

As senior policy advisor, May was deeply involved in the negotiation of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer.

She resigned on principle from the position in 1988 over permits for construction of a dam granted without environmental assessments, which were later determined to be illegal by a federal court.

May founded and served as the executive director of the Sierra Club Canada from 1989 to 2006.

Elizabeth May has been an officer of the Order of Canada since 2005, and has been named by the United Nations as one of the leading women environmentalists worldwide.

In 2006, after building the Sierra Club into a nationally effective organization, May resigned to run for leadership of the Green Party of Canada, winning on the first ballot with 66% of the vote.

In 2010, Newsweek named her as one of the world's most influential women.

May has written eight books; her memoir, Who We Are - Reflections of my Life and Canada was listed as a best-seller by The Globe and Mail.

May was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Stephanie (Middleton), a sculptor, pianist, and writer, and John Middleton May, an accountant.

Her father was born in New York and raised in England, and her mother was also a native New Yorker.

She has a younger brother named Geoffrey.

Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty.

She has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Saanich—Gulf Islands since 2011.

May is the longest serving female leader of a Canadian federal party.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Elizabeth May immigrated to Canada with her family as a teenager.

On May 2, 2011, May became the first member of the Green Party of Canada to be elected as a Member of Parliament, defeating Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn with 46% of the vote in the Saanich–Gulf Islands riding.

She was named by fellow MPs as Parliamentarian of the Year 2012, Hardest Working MP 2013, Best Orator 2014, and Most Knowledgeable 2020.

In the 2019 federal election, she was re-elected with 54% of the vote.

May resigned as Green Party leader on November 4, 2019, but remained as parliamentary leader in the house.

She was a candidate in the 2022 Green Party of Canada leadership election.

Running on a joint ticket with Jonathan Pedneault, she won the election on November 19, 2022.