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HARDEN, Muriel Ernestine Harden (nee Peel)

Driftwood Obituary
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HARDEN, Muriel Ernestine Harden (nee Peel)

Muriel Ernestine Harden (nee Peel)
August 21, 1924 – October 03, 2019

Ernestine passed away peacefully at the age of 95 with family at her side, at Kelowna Hospice House where her husband of 61 years died ten years earlier.

She was the elder of two daughters born in Cabri, Saskatchewan to farming parents Doris and Wilfred whom she adored. In 1937, after trying to outlast the Great Depression, the family abandoned the farm and moved to Calgary. There she graduated from Crescent Heights Collegiate Institute and then from RN training at Calgary General Hospital. During her training she met a young airman, Arthur, from New Zealand, who was participating in the WW2 Commonwealth Air Training Plan. They married in 1948 and over the course of their life together lived in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Burnaby where their children were born, Auckland NZ for 3 years in the mid ‘60s, Richmond, Tsawwassen, after retirement 28 years on Salt Spring Island, and finally Kelowna. They raised five children, built three houses, landscaped properties, created English-style gardens, travelled, hiked, camped, cruised, and did some sailing. They even met the Queen. Ernestine was grateful to have seen “a bit of the world”.

But deep in her soul, with her love of farmlands, farm animals – especially roosters and horses, fields of golden wheat, and wide-open skies, she was a prairie girl throughout her life. It made her heart sing.

For most of her life she was very active in the United Church of Canada. She was a Sunday school teacher, church elder, choir member and leader. She was a Girl Guide Leader, Brownie Brown Owl, active in the Air Cadets Women’s Auxiliary, in seniors’ choirs and bell ringers, and a Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Blue Jays fan. She knitted, crocheted, did fine needlework, and sewed dance costumes for her girls. She excelled at baking and at preserving fresh vegetables and fruit, as well as making pickles and jams – skills she learned to appreciate growing up on the farm, when one had to make use of what one had and not waste a single thing. Her farm years formed her and informed her throughout her life. One of her favourite sayings was, “It’s as crooked as a cow’s hind leg”. Her prairie grit sustained her, especially through several difficult health challenges, which she approached with pragmatism, determination, and grace. Ernestine was very thankful for her full life. She tried her best, loved, and was loved.

She is greatly missed by her children, Leanne (Don) Campbell, Auckland NZ; Maureen (Steve) Miller, West Vancouver; Rhonda (Kirk) Caza, Bermuda; Eric (Cathie) and Tony (Anita) both of Kelowna; grandchildren Jonathan, Dana, Andrea, Tony, Dan, Tim, Mike, Kevin, Michelle, Jennifer, and Matthew; great-grandchildren Kaycee, Taylor, Michael, Ethan, Charlie and Thomas; her sister Shirley (Chuck) Noltie and family of Toronto; and other relatives and friends.

Thanks to her friends and staff at Sunrise Village and Mountainview Village, who made her last ten years more enjoyable. Thanks also to Dr. Clarke at the BC Cancer Agency and the nurses, doctors and staff at Kelowna General Hospital. A very special thanks to the staff and doctors at Kelowna Hospice House who cared for her so tenderly and compassionately in her final days.

Glitch, power outage prevents ferry from docking

Gail Sjuberg
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Glitch, power outage prevents ferry from docking

The Skeena Queen was unable to dock at the Fulford Harbour ferry terminal at 9:35 a.m. Friday due to a power outage, and the ship was rerouted to Long Harbour to unload.

Typically the vessel can use ship-to-shore power to lower the ramp in the case of power outage, but for a reason unknown to ship engineers that system was not working.

“There was a power outage there. Normally we would be able to operate the ramp with our ship-to-shore power, and unfortunately our engineers have not been able to get that ship-to-shore power working,” said BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall. “They have been troubleshooting and all attempts have been exhausted.”

The vessel, which had been loaded with passengers destined for Salt Spring and left Swartz Bay at 9 a.m., was rerouted to discharge at the Long Harbour terminal. It is expected to return to Fulford Harbour for 1:40 p.m. and be underway soon after.

“We’ve had to cancel a couple of sailings between Fulford Harbour and Swartz Bay as a result,” she said. “We certainly apologize to customers. Normally that ship to shore power does work, but we were having a glitch this morning.”

The glitch is expected to be resolved when the Skeena Queen returns to Fulford Harbour.

The Skeena Queen will be undergoing a mid-life refit starting on Monday. It will be replaced by the Queen of Cumberland until mid-March 2020.

In other BC Ferries news, high winds cancelled some Friday sailings between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, and between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay.

Skeena Queen heads for mid-life upgrade

Driftwood Staff
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Skeena Queen heads for mid-life upgrade

BC Ferries announced this week the Skeena Queen will be off for a mid-life upgrade starting Monday, Oct. 28, with duty on the Fulford-Swartz Bay route to be covered mainly by the Queen of Cumberland until mid-March.

The Bowen Queen will serve the route during the holiday schedule, from Dec. 20, 2019 to Jan. 1, 2020.

As a primary replacement vehicle, the Queen of Cumberland will provide equivalent capacity on the regular schedule, and may provide additional capacity if vehicle ramps are deployed on specific busy sailings. BC Ferries states that vehicles will be loaded differently, with commercial traffic separated from regular vehicle traffic, although customers will still be loaded on a first-come, first-served basis as they arrive at the terminal. During the first week the Queen of Cumberland is on the route, BC Ferries will have additional staff and signage at the Fulford terminal.

Salish Raven replaces the Queen of Cumberland on the Swartz Bay to Southern Gulf Islands route. During the holiday period, though, the Raven will be providing supplemental service between Tsawwassen and the Southern Gulf Islands due to forecasted traffic increases. The smaller capacity Bowen Queen will serve Fulford while the Queen of Cumberland shifts back to the Southern Gulf Islands route.

Two additional round trips per day on the Swartz Bay-Fulford route are being added during the holiday season so the maximum number of customers can be accommodated. There will also be a revised schedule with modified sailing times.

During the Skeena Queen’s mid-life upgrade, customers are encouraged to arrive early at the terminal to get on the sailing of their choice. Metro Vancouver customers are encouraged to reserve early for travel on the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands route (Route 9) to avoid waits that may occur travelling through Swartz Bay. There will be additional sailings on Route 9 during the December holiday period.

BC Ferries says island customers may want to do their holiday shopping early, or plan their holiday travel around the dates the Bowen Queen is on the route.

The Skeena will be undergoing its upgrade at BC Ferries’ Fleet Maintenance Unit in Richmond, B.C. The work plan includes modernized amenities including new furniture, air conditioning, expanded customer washrooms and additional benches on the exterior deck. The navigation, communication and electrical systems will be improved to enhance safety and reliability.

The upgrade is expected to ensure the Skeena’s good working capacity for the next 20 years.

CRD unpacks safety service plan

Elizabeth Nolan
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CRD unpacks safety service plan

Islanders who attended a Capital Regional District information session last Tuesday on a proposed safety service appeared somewhat neutral on the idea, with lots of questions tabled on how funds would be used and if they could in fact be effective in increasing the sense of security downtown.

Salt Spring Director Gary Holman and senior island staff, along with the regional district’s CEO Bob Lapham, outlined the ways they believe such a service would help prevent crime and forge a better connection with RCMP.

The CRD has made steps toward addressing village security concerns, such as providing grants-in-aid for security cameras and increasing the budget for bylaw enforcement, although that service is mainly applicable in island parks. Holman said he proposed the safety service as a further step toward meeting a community need. The establishing bylaw allows funding for some crime prevention, outreach and social support initiatives.

The cost to taxpayers for the service is expected to start at $25,000 to $30,000. The first year’s requisition would have to cover the cost of the counter-petition process, around $15,000, so the 2020 budget would be further reduced.

Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce chair Ian Clement explained the situation that led to a series of community stakeholder meetings earlier this year. It included a spate of vandalism to downtown businesses and organizations, including the chamber and CRD offices. There was also an almost daily gathering of 30-50 people in areas like the United Church Meadow and the Peace Park with drinking, fights and unleashed dogs. A resident who lives next to the meadow conducted a wide survey of local businesses and found many people reported feeling unsafe crossing the meadow to do banking, walking in Mouat Park and being in town at night.

Some people who spoke up seemed supportive of the intention but questioned whether the service could address underlying problems such as mental health, addictions and homelessness, the first two of which are provincial responsibilities.

“I don’t want to sell this as it can solve everything. It clearly won’t,” Holman said. “But it is a way local government can help.”

He also noted the CRD is working to improve affordable housing options on the island. It’s long-stalled affordable housing project on Drake Road has finally located a water source and will be moving forward soon.

Some speakers, such as Maxine Leichter, said if such a service were to be established it should have some sort of measurement of success, even if that meant just doing another community survey.

Although the small requisition proposed would not be sufficient to cover hiring an extra RCMP member on top of the quota provided by provincial contract, the service has been billed as way to create a more effective communication with RCMP. It would establish a stakeholder forum that RCMP would regularly attend, and Lapham said it could help CRD bylaw enforcement officers to file charges more effectively with the Crown.

The establishment bylaw received third reading by the CRD Board in September, when the counter-petition process as community approval method was also approved. That has yet to be approved by the province, but the CRD is expecting to run the 30-day process starting in early November.

A Community Alliance meeting devoted to discussing the proposal more fully is set for this Monday, Oct. 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Lions Hall.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 23, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Musical instruments pump up Pender program

Gail Sjuberg
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Musical instruments pump up Pender program

Christmas came early for students and community members on Pender Island, as a local arts society recently received a grant for a wide range of new musical instruments.

“I brought everything to the school. It was a pile of boxes in the middle of the band room,” Ptarmigan Arts Society creative director Lauren Mann said. “The kids kept peeking over and asking the music teacher ‘When can we open the boxes?’”

The society is a recipient of the 2019 TD MusiCounts grant, which provides communities with funds to buy new musical instruments and equipment. Ptarmigan Arts received $25,000 worth of new instruments from the grant and will use them to boost their existing musical instrument bank, and to build programming for the Pender Island community.

“For the last five years, we’ve been running a music in the school program as part of an overall artists in the school program, where we put artists into the school to teach kids primarily music from Grade 5 and up,” said Ptarmigan executive director Lisa Fleming. “We had an aging instrument bank to run that program. When we heard about this opportunity to apply for another $25,000 worth of musical instruments, we thought we’d give that a try.”

“We already have quite a strong foundation of the arts and music. This will help round that out and allow us to do programming from the preschool age up to high school. It’ll give an opportunity for all ages, up to adults and seniors,” Mann added. “It’s a wide range to help round out what we already had. It’s great because we can start the kids from a young age and infuse them with music.”

Ptarmigan Arts has a long history with the arts on Pender. The society was founded over 25 years ago, and has focused on music and theatre. It has been expanding into visual arts, with events like the Fall Crawl studio tour giving Penderites the chance to explore the visual arts in their community. Ptarmigan is also working on opening a gallery on the island, which will let more visual artists sell and exhibit their work.

However, music does continue to play a major role in the society’s activities. They have also reached out to schools on other islands, including Saturna, Mayne and Galiano, to bring musical programming to kids in the schools. They are also working with the WSÁNEC tribal school on the Saanich Peninsula to build music programs.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 23, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

SSNAP winds down with exhilarating awards night

Gail Sjuberg
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SSNAP winds down with exhilarating awards night

Artists and art appreciators filled Mahon Hall on Saturday night as winners of a hefty bouquet of Salt Spring National Art Prize awards were announced.

Taking away the biggest prize of the event was Luther Konadu from Winnipeg. The jurors chose his Figure as Index photograph as the winner of the Joan McConnell Award of $15,000 in cash and a residency on Salt Spring worth $5,000.

Konadu was not at the event to receive the honour in person, but the artist who won the prize in 2017 was on hand to accept it and speak about its impact on her life.

Judy Anderson said winning SSNAP helped her become a tenured faculty member at the University of Calgary and gave her a huge amount of press so that people started to know her name and would even say, “Oh, you’re THAT Judy Anderson . . . It’s a wonderful thing that has done a lot for me and I know Luther is going to be incredibly happy to be the first-place winner, and it’s a beautiful piece and well deserved.”

“It caught me off guard,” said Konadu about the win. “It never crossed my mind that it could be me out of the 50-plus finalists. I knew I couldn’t attend and I thought there was a lot of great work being shown so, I didn’t even bother having any hopes of winning.”

Konadu is a recent graduate of the School of Art at the University of Manitoba.

The finalists exhibition featured 50 artworks from artists located across Canada, including five from Salt Spring.

Using a blind jury process, jurors David Balzer, Sandra Meigs and Cheyanne Turions chose finalists from a field of 1,973 entries from 1,201 artists based on an image of the submitted artwork and a statement. Konadu’s winning piece and their individual picks were made after seeing the works on exhibit at the hall.

Jurors’ Choice Award winners, who each received $3,000, were Audie Murray of Victoria for her “hambone, Metis billy stick” photograph (Balzer), Kaley Flowers of Toronto for her <esc><esc> sculpture (Meigs) and Skawennati of Montreal for her Intergalactic Empowerment Wampum Belt (Xenomorph, Onkwehón:we, Na’vi, Twi’lek, E.T.) (Turions).

They also offered two honourable mentions: Violet Costello from Calgary for Germaine, and Anna Torma from Baie Verte for Blue Cars.

SSNAP founding director Ron Crawford shared the impact of the event in its three biennial incarnations. Since 2015, SSNAP has exhibited work by 150 different artists, given out $94,000 in prize money and sold close to $100,000 worth of work.

“Nothing makes me happier than to get money into the artists’ pockets so they are paid for the amazing work that they do,” he told the crowd.

Some 3,230 artists from all provinces and territories have submitted 5,496 works for consideration to SSNAP over its three years.

“Artists don’t do this kind of work for money, although I will mention that all of the work is for sale,” Crawford added. “This is about the opportunity to express their vision and their integrity and their efforts and their skill, and I think that’s very important, so in the true sense artists are gifting us this work and [having created this event], we as a community are gifting back to the artists the opportunity to do this, and I think that is the key to the exhibition.”

The Rosemaria Behncke People’s Choice winners based on ballots submitted by exhibit visitors were Tony Luciani from Durham, Ont. for his Port-Kent painting (earning a $3,000 award), Steven Volpe from Orangeville, Ont. for his Winter Gathering painting ($2,000), and Tim Alfred of Port Hardy for his Blue Moon Mask ($1,000). A separate tallying of votes by people aged 18 and under gave the Youth People’s Choice Award to Erika Dueck of St. Pierre, Man. for the multimedia piece called The Sanctuary.

Carol Narod won the Salt Spring Artists Award for her Married and Single fabric arts piece.

The Salt Spring Painters Guild Award of $1,000 for outstanding two-dimensional painted artwork went to Atefeh Baradaran of Vancouver for her Untitled (Hinged Take Off) painting.

AWARDS FROM OTHER SSNAP-RELATED EXHIBITS

Awards from the Parallel Art Show held at ArtSpring and the SSNAP Youth Exhibit at the Salt Spring Gallery were also given out on Saturday night at Mahon Hall.

Viewers’ Choice Awards from the Parallel Art Show of work by Gulf Islands artists, sponsored by Michael Whitfield, were Jim Holyoak (first, $800), Karin Millson (second, $550) and Donna Hall (third, $300).

Both jurors and people’s choice awards were part of the inaugural youth show.

Sam Holmes won first place from the jurors for his sculpture The Ram, and third place in the people’s choice category.

Second-place jurors choice winner was Mac Flett for The Angry Anarchist, and Rose Hermann’s Work in Progress was the third-place jurors winner.

First-place people’s choice winner was Ruby Egger-Lipsett for her painting called Nouveau, while Anju Otsu’s Eye-land pencil drawing earned the second-place people’s choice award. 

Islanders compete in Victoria and Hawaii events

Contributed Article
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Islanders compete in Victoria and Hawaii events

Driftwood readers might remember reading about Marion Young’s age group second-place finish in the Whistler Ironman Canadian championships on July 28.

This performance qualified her for the Kona Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, which unfolded on Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend. Marion started at 4:30 a.m. for preparations and actually launched just before 7:30 in the morning with a nearly one hour and 45-minute, 2.4-mile ocean swim. Little did she know that the subsequent 112- mile bike portion, usually one of her strongest events, would turn into a seven-hour and 40-minute struggle to keep her bike from being blown over in serious cross-winds. Finishing the bike portion as sunset approached, she launched into a six-hour, 21-minute marathon in the dark; although under a mostly full moon. She finished at 11:30 p.m. Hawaii time (2:30 a.m. on Salt Spring) after 16 hours, three minutes and 48 seconds of continual motion, an hour before the race cut-off time, to earn 35th place out of 44 in her age group.

Five and a half hours later, 24 Salt Springers who had travelled to Victoria for the Thanksgiving Sunday’s four Goodlife road races began to muster for the start of their races. The first race to offer finishers was the newly named “Turkey Trot” 8K, and the first finishers from Salt Spring were Emerson and India Hayden, children of Richard Hayden and Janine Fernandes-Hayden, who had 50 minutes earlier started the event’s half marathon. Emerson finished third of 48 in the male 12 and under age category, in the top 7.5 per cent of all males and 86th place overall, and then went immediately to enter the children’s fun run where he finished first. India finished five minutes later in the top 20 per cent of her age group category (F13-15), and the top six per cent of all females.

The third Salt Springer to cross the finish line seven minutes later in the 8K was Sneakers club member Donna Cloete, whose time of 47:52 earned her an eighth place of the 43 members of her age group.

Two minutes later, Salt Springer Wayne North crossed the finish line in 50:23, earning a 33rd place of the 56 in his age group and 487th of 821 men.

Laura Sheppard crossed the finish line five minutes later in 25th place of the 61 women in her age group, 784th woman and 1,378th overall.

Mary Rose MacLachlin was the final Salt Springer in the 8K, her time of 55:49 earning her a top 60 per cent place in her age group and among all women.

The second group across the finish line were the half-marathon (21.1K) competitors. The first Salt Springer was Richard Hayden, whose time of 1:23:21 earned him 58th place of the 2,887 runners who finished, a top two per cent finish, third place of 92 in his age group and 46th of 1,200 men.

Second Salt Springer was Sneaker Duncan Elsey in a personal best time of 1:43:57, which earned him a top 20 per cent finish in his age group, a top 25 per cent of all males, and a top 15 per cent of all runners. Janine Fernandes-Hayden was the third Salt Spring Islander to finish. Her time of 1:45:18 earned her a top 20 per cent finish of all runners, a ninth place of the 179 runners in her age group (top five per cent) and a top 10 per cent of all women running.

The fourth Salt Springer to finish the half-marathon was Sneaker Eric Ellis. His time of 1:46:56 earned him a first place among the 34 men in the 70 to 74 age group who competed and is the fastest time recorded in that age group in Canada this year. He placed in the top third of all males who competed and the top 20 per cent of all finishers.

The fifth Salt Springer to finish was David Collombin, whose time of 1:52:53 earned him a 54th place of the 121 men in his age group.

John-Phillip Ritson was the sixth Salt Springer to finish. His time of 1:58:58 placed him 54th of the 121 in his age group.

As the interval from the starter’s gun passed two hours, Kathy Kendall finished in a personal best time of 2:04:28, which earned her a top 20 per cent placement in her age group.

She was followed 20 seconds later by Liam Lenihan Wright, whose 2:04:51 earned him 18th place among the 31 finishers in his under-19 age group, 767th place among the 1,200 males who finished and 1,389th place of 2,887 overall.

Viewpoint: Logging fight continues

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: Logging fight continues

By JEAN WILKINSON

Since our last update in April regarding efforts to stop clear-cutting on Salt Spring, our committee met a number of times, received a brush-off letter from the provincial government, wrote again to the premier and key cabinet ministers, (no response yet) made a presentation to Islands Trust Council’s quarterly meeting and gathered a lot more information. 

A postcard campaign to Premier John Horgan, Opposition Leader Andrew Weaver and our MLA Adam Olsen called for an immediate suspension of clear-cutting and support for the Trust to carry out its “preserve and protect” mandate.

While we continue to press the Local Trust Committee to find a way to stop the loss of our forests, we’ve realized this also requires changes to provincial legislation. The law firm that was recommended to us for issuing an injunction when the logging operation started up again had based their legal opinion on violations of the Islands Trust bylaws. However, this was not helpful, because timber extraction on private property remains under the jurisdiction of the province and repeated attempts by municipalities to allow them to regulate logging have been refused by the provincial government.

Therefore, we need the government of B.C. to institute forest practices legislation ensuring environmental protection on private land. Consideration must be given to preservation of sensitive ecosystems, protection of watersheds and riparian zones, erosion control, carbon sequestration to mitigate the climate crisis and regulations banning clear-cutting. As it stands now, and as incredible as it may seem, a property owner has the right to clear-cut land from boundary to boundary with complete disregard for even the most rudimentary of the Forest Practices Code legislation that applies to the timber industry. The provincial government must also recognize an obligation to protect neighbouring property owners affected by a logging operation regarding noise pollution, impacts on water, and reduction of property values.

On Sept. 10 we met with Olsen and laid out specific requests for provincial action in this regard. We explained that the unique structure and “preserve and protect” mandate of the Islands Trust makes it possible and necessary for the province to allow more regulation of logging and the authority to ensure enforcement by our local government. Concerns regarding water issues, related impacts on affordable housing, economic development, tourism, environmental degradation and loss of our forests’ mitigating effects on climate change were outlined.

Olsen thanked us for our advocacy, agreed with our points and discussed various aspects of this with us.  He suggested that the most efficient way to protect Gulf Islands forests is to convince the Minister of Municipal Affairs to change the Local Government Act to allow the Islands Trust to regulate tree-cutting. He will make this a focus during the five-week fall session of the legislature from mid-October to early November. Our task will be to build public support for this, and we have started a petition: 

If you can help gather signatures or know of a public place to make this petition available to sign, please contact us (jdwilkin@telus.net).

The writer is part of a group of citizens working to stop clear-cut logging on Salt Spring.

Editorial: Drop in the bucket

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Drop in the bucket

We all like to complain about the weather, especially when rainier and colder days return in the fall.

While the ceaseless dreariness can affect mood and impact road conditions, for most people fall conditions remain an inconvenience at most. But others are suffering through October nights knowing they must wait until Nov. 1 to get a dry place to sleep. That means more than a week to go and every possibility things could get worse before they get better.

Salt Spring Community Services’ In From the Cold program was originally funded through BC Housing as an extreme weather shelter — meaning it could open nights from November through March, but only when the temperature hit 0º C or there were periods of extreme rain. In recent years the organization has strived to cover the funding shortfall to allow it to be open every night during its set season, but a year-round shelter with more fulsome support services has long been its preferred approach.

Funding support from BC Housing announced Thursday as part of Homelessness Action Week that allows the shelter to be open every night of the year is therefore most welcome news. The island’s most vulnerable people now have a place to have dinner every night, a safe space to sleep and have breakfast in the morning, plus access to other Community Service programs that take place at the facility before noon. The shelter won’t provide a permanent residence, though, or even a place to leave belongings for the day until intake re-opens at 6 p.m.

Full housing for those most in need won’t likely be available until the Croftonbrook expansion projects gets rolling, but with 18 units to be rented at the shelter allowance rate for the hard to house and chronically homeless, a more permanent home for some islanders in need is at last forthcoming.

SSICS executive director Rob Grant says the shelter expansion also falls short on support services for issues that complicate and are frequently seen alongside homelessness, such as mental health supports and substance-use programs. The organization and local political support have proved able to get some attention from provincial sources. Let’s hope they can leverage their advocacy into yet more improvements.

May coasts to third Saanich-Gulf Islands victory

Gail Sjuberg
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May coasts to third Saanich-Gulf Islands victory

Elizabeth May is heading back to Ottawa for a third term as Saanich-Gulf Islands MP.

With 95 per cent of polls reported by 11:25 p.m., May won the riding handily, with preliminary results giving her 48.9 per cent of the popular vote and 26,603 votes.

Conservative David Busch was the second-place finisher with 19.7 per cent of the vote (10,725). He was followed by Liberal Ryan Windsor with  16.5 per cent and 9,010 votes, NDP candidate Sabina Singh with 13.5 per cent (7,326 votes) and Ron Broda of the People’s Party of Canada with 1.4 per cent (784 votes).

In her post-election speech televised after those given by all other national leaders, May thanked volunteers and congratulated the two other candidates elected for the Green party — incumbent Paul Manly in Nanaimo-Ladysmith and Jenica Atwin in Fredericton.

Despite raising their national popular vote from 3.5 to 6.5 per cent between the 2015 and 2019 elections, May’s party did not make the breakthrough hoped for in terms of seats across the country or on Vancouver Island.

But May looked on the positive side in her assessment.

“For the record books, this is the best election result that any Green party in the first-past-the-post system has ever had . . . and we enter parliament as the first caucus in the history of parliament that is two thirds women. Just sayin’.”

In 2015, May won the riding with 54 per cent of the popular vote (37,076 votes). Conservative candidate Robert Boyd was in second spot with 19 per cent (13,263 votes), Liberal Tim Kane was third with 17 per cent (11,430 votes), Alicia Cormier of the NDP was fourth with nine per cent of the vote (6,181) and Libertarian candidate Meghan Porter had .4 per cent (268 votes).

Preliminary national results on Monday saw Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party win 156 seats, down from 184 in 2015, meaning a loss of their majority. The Conservatives won 122, the Bloc Quebecois 32, the NDP 24, the Greens three and former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould won her Vancouver-Granville seat as an independent.

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