OTTAWA—The Green Party’s latest electoral breakthrough sent ripples across Canadian politics Tuesday, as party Leader Elizabeth May predicted voters are ready to heed her clarion call for climate action and send more Green MPs to the House of Commons.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, May said the Green victory in Monday’s byelection shows party momentum from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island can translate to electoral wins at the federal level. She said the goal in this fall’s general election is to earn enough seats to wield real influence in what she hopes will be a minority parliament.

“The target is to be effective, to achieve what must be achieved for the future of our children and grandchildren,” said May, who has called for rapid emissions cuts and a transition away from fossil fuels to fight climate change. She slammed the current Liberal government for buying the Trans Mountain oil pipeline and keeping the greenhouse gas reduction target of their Conservative predecessors.

“I have a vision of how do we make Parliament work, and how do we deliver for Canadians those programs and policies that must be achieved,” she said.

“They’ll be difficult, but they’re possible — but only with a strong commitment that’s grounded in deep integrity and ethics.”

The byelection win in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, in which local candidate Paul Manly earned a decisive 37-per-cent share of the vote, marked the first time a Green candidate other than May has been elected to the House of Commons. It comes just weeks after the Green Party posted a historic result in the provincial election in P.E.I., where it formed the official opposition and was a contender for power for the first time.

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The party also won seats in the New Brunswick and Ontario legislatures last year, and has held the balance of power in B.C.’s minority government since 2017.

Now the Greens hold two federal seats in B.C., including May’s in Saanich-Gulf Islands, and are targeting more. May’s new husband, John Kidder, announced Tuesday that he will run for the party in the sprawling riding of Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon.

“We’re going to establish the beachhead for the Green Party on mainland B.C.,” Kidder told the Star by email. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

David Coletto, chief executive of Abacus Data, cautioned that Monday’s Green win could be explained as a one-off byelection result. The Green candidate ran for a second time, and voters may have been more willing to support a non-traditional party because they know there’s another chance to elect someone in just a few months, he said.

But at the same time, Coletto said his firm’s polling data suggests more Canadians are willing to consider voting for the Greens, at a time when climate change and the environment are emerging as top electoral concerns and the Liberals’ standing has slipped in the polls.

“There’s an opportunity,” he said. “We’re seeing evidence that more and more voters are at least putting the Greens on their menu of options … The same way (former NDP Leader) Jack Layton said you don’t have to choose red or blue, well, now there’s a Green door.”

On Parliament Hill, other party leaders downplayed the notion of Green momentum. Asked about the byelection result before the Liberal cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about an increase to his government’s annual payouts to parents, and then pointed to voters’ concern about climate change. He also took a swipe at Conservative politicians who oppose his government’s policies to reduce emissions, including federal Leader Andrew Scheer and premiers in Ontario and Alberta.

“It’s going to be really, really important that Canadians pick a government this fall that is committed to climate action, and that’s certainly the point we’re going to be making throughout the fall,” Trudeau said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the Greens won because of a “protest vote” against the Liberal government and its policies on the environment, even though his party held Nanaimo-Ladysmith until the local MP stepped down to run provincially in January. He promised to unveil a slate of environmental policies by the end of May that will amount to a “Green New Deal” — a reference to an American proposal for massive public spending to shift the economy away from fossil fuels, create jobs, and slash emissions that cause climate change.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Manly said the environmental vote flocked to his campaign out of anger over the NDP’s support for the massive natural gas pipeline and export terminal being built on the B.C. coast.

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“This is a real wake-up call to the other parties to take climate change seriously, and I think it really puts the wind in the sails of the Green Party,” he said.

Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, said the byelection could prove to be a boost for the Greens as evidence they can really win — a counterpoint to Liberal and New Democrat spin that a vote for Greens will just split the left and help the Conservatives.

“This provides momentum. It provides strength,” said Kurl. “The stars are totally aligned like never before for the Greens.”

With files from Melanie Green

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