Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen will serve as interim leader of the B.C. Green Party throughout the upcoming contest to replace outgoing leader Andrew Weaver.
Olsen announced Friday that he will take the reins from Weaver on Jan. 6 and remain at the party’s helm until a new leader is unveiled on June 27.
“I’m really excited to fill this role over the next six months, and to steward us through this time where we are electing a new leader,” Olsen said.
The party’s bylaws prohibit an interim leader from running for the permanent leadership post.
Olsen said his interim posting will have no effect on the Green-NDP alliance that allowed NDP Premier John Horgan to form a minority government.
“That doesn’t change,” he said. “We have a working agreement in the legislature with the B.C. NDP, and it’s an agreement that I signed. It wasn’t signed on behalf of us by our leader.
“So that arrangement will continue and the relationship with the premier will continue to grow in my new role and we will start those conversations in the early new year.”
Olsen also announced Friday that the party will open up its leadership voting process to anyone 16 and older who wants to support a candidate, but doesn’t want to officially join the party. These new “party supporters” will still have to register with the Greens, and they can’t be a member or a supporter of another B.C. political party.
“What’s most exciting is that we, again, are demonstrating a willingness to open our party up and to lead by example,” Olsen said. “We’ve said that we want to be a more inclusive, more diverse party and this is a way that we can ensure that those who are marginalized by the way the political process currently operates [are] able to participate and be engaged.”
Full membership in the party is already free for youth aged 25 and younger, the party said.
Sat Harwood, who chairs the Greens’ provincial council, said the party has sufficient safeguards to prevent other parties from using the “supporter” rule to infiltrate the leadership process.
“We feel like we’ve got the tools in place to investigate that and take steps if we need to,” he said.
Harwood added that other parties have taken a similar approach and managed it successfully.
“We think that it’s something that will be seen as quite appealing for those people who are interested in the party, who conceptually like the things that we stand for, that like our values, but aren’t yet at that point where they want to commit and become a full member of the party,” he said.
“So it is a way for people who like what we do to get to know us better, to get to know our leadership candidates better, and hopefully, over the long term, we will be able to enhance and deepen our relationship with voters.”
The leadership contest begins Jan. 6 and prospective candidates have until April 15 to submit a leadership application. Voting opens June 15 and closes at 11:59 p.m. on June 26.
Three debates will be held after April 30, including one on Vancouver Island.
The spending limit for each candidate is $300,000.
Weaver announced in October that he was stepping aside as B.C. Green Party leader. He will continue to serve as the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, but has said he will not run in the next provincial election in 2021.
