Former Powell River-Sunshine Coast Green candidate Kim Darwin has been elected to a third term as the party’s provincial council secretary.

Darwin also received an outstanding service award during the BC Green Party AGM Aug. 19 in Sidney, which she co-chaired.

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“The award was a surprise. I was not expecting that at all,” said Darwin, who finished third, within 100 votes of the second place Liberal candidate on May 9.

It was an historic election for the Greens, who claimed three seats, and Darwin said that electoral success, and the prospect of a new session at the legislature opening in a week, gave the AGM a different feeling than it had in past years.

“There was a sense of pride and hope for the future,” she said. “I think everybody went away saying ‘this is amazing, it’s great,’ and the potential is there for things to go really well.”

She also said with the Green MLAs recognized as a caucus at the legislature they’ll have access to resources that will allow the party executive to focus on governance issues while the day-to-day business can be handled by the staff in the offices of the MLAs.

Darwin also said she anticipates the party’s membership numbers will continue to grow as people see how the “confidence and supply agreement” between the Greens and the governing NDP actually works in the legislature and how much of the Green platform becomes government policy.

“As more and more people are understanding that we are not in government, in a coalition with the NDP, but [the agreement] allows us to be a distinct party in opposition and essentially we get to be completely independent and hold the NDP’s feet to the fire to keep their promises,” Darwin said.

MLAs return to Victoria on Sept. 8 for the NDP government’s first Throne Speech. Finance Minister Carole James is set to deliver a budget update the following Monday.