Sonia Furstenau stepped down as B.C. Green Party leader on Tuesday, three months after failing to win a seat in the fall provincial election.
Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote, representing Vancouver-Sea to Sky, will become interim leader until a leadership race set to take place in September.
Furstenau, 54, an MLA since 2017 and party leader since 2020, made the announcement at the Inn at Laurel Point in James Bay.
“My transition is full of joy and love and I am deeply committed to the success of the party,” said Furstenau, adding she has no plans to re-enter politics but may return to teaching in the future.
“I feel like I gave it everything I had and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and I’m very comfortable with moving back into private life.”
Furstenau, who had represented the riding of Cowichan Valley before moving to Victoria for family reasons, ran in Victoria-Beacon Hill in the Oct. 19, 2024, provincial election, but lost to incumbent NDP cabinet minister Grace Lore.
Just two Green MLAs were elected — newcomers Jeremy Valeriote, a geological engineer and former Gibsons councillor, and retired lawyer Rob Botterell, representing Saanich North and the Islands.
Both MLAs said Tuesday they do not intend to run in the leadership race, meaning the next leader will not have a seat in the legislature until possibly the next provincial election or unless a byelection occurs.
Furstenau stayed on to assist with the transition and to help negotiate a four-year co-operation agreement with the NDP, which won the election with a slim majority of 47 seats to the B.C. Conservative Party’s 44 seats.
The agreement talks about expanded mental-health care coverage, more community health centres, more non-profit housing, updating the Clean B.C. climate plan and strengthening protection for old-growth forests.
“Did we get everything we wanted, for example our whole platform, nope,” said Furstenau. “But considering the circumstances that we were negotiating with the party with a bare majority, but a majority nonetheless, I’m very proud of the commitments in the agreement.”
Furstenau said she’s confident that Valeriote and Botterell will hold government to its word.
She rejected the idea Tuesday that the B.C. Greens have stalled and said the party — despite only electing five MLAs over the last decade — has demonstrated the value of a third party in the B.C. legislature that is focused on finding solutions and working across party lines.
“We’ve shown that politics doesn’t have to be a binary choice,” said Furstenau. “I think we’ve really demonstrated how critical and how essential the B.C. Greens are.”
Furstenau thanked a long list of volunteers and constituency and legislature staff, campaign and leadership teams and more. “To all of these teams, to everybody along the way, please know my heart bursts with love for all of you,” she said.
Molly McKay, the B.C. Green Party’s interim executive director, said the rules for the upcoming leadership contest will be released in February, applications will be open until May and voting is expected to occur in mid to late September.
The Speech from the Throne is scheduled for Feb. 18 and the legislature resumes sitting the following day, with the provincial budget set for March 4.
Furstenau was raised in Edmonton — where her parents moved from Victoria so her father could pursue his master’s degree and PhD — but spent summers on Vancouver Island and returned by age 20 to attend the University of Victoria.
She earned her teaching degree in 2009 and taught at various Victoria schools.
The married mother of a blended family of five later took a teaching job in Shawnigan Lake.
While there, she successfully fought, over several years, for the cancellation of a waste-discharge permit that allowed a quarry upstream from Shawnigan Lake to store contaminated soil.
“I never aspired to be an elected official,” said Furstenau. “[But] 11 years ago I felt no choice but to do all that I could to try to protect Shawnigan Lake’s drinking water.”
Furstenau said she and Mary Polak, the B.C. Liberal environment minister at that time, became close friends — an example of working across party lines.
Furstenau became a Cowichan Valley Regional District director, and months after the environmental permit was pulled in 2017, she was elected as a Green MLA for Cowichan Valley, alongside Adam Olsen in Saanich North and the Islands.
The two joined then B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver, and the trio became king makers in signing a confidence-and-supply agreement, effectively propping up the John Horgan-led NDP and toppling the governing B.C. Liberals after a 16-year run.
In 2020, Weaver stepped down and Furstenau became leader. The NDP blindsided the B.C. Greens with a snap election and won a majority.
Olsen, who attended the announcement on Tuesday and who Furstenau referred to as being like a brother, announced prior to the fall provincial election that he would not be running again, citing family reasons.
Furstenau, who became a grandmother in early December, lives in Victoria with her family, all of whom she thanked for their love and support, especially husband Blaise Salmon.
“My family is my bedrock,” she said.
