On September 24, 2025, Emily Lowan delivered a victory speech in Victoria after winning the BC Green Party leadership contest in a landslide victory after recieving 60% of votes on the first ballot. Her election represents a decisive leftward turn for the party as well as a generational change as she is 25 years old. Given the historic and pivotal and historic victory for the left that will shake up both BC politics and the Canadian Green Movement we decided to publish her entire speech so that people can hear about her vision in her own words.
The Speech
Good morning, everyone. My name is Emily Lowan, and I am thrilled to be your next BC Green Leader.
I want to start by thanking the other contestants, Dr. Jonathan Kerr and Adam Bremner-Akins. It’s truly been such a pleasure to run alongside such bright, talented leaders, and I really look forward to working with them both.
Adam, thank you for being such a courageous voice in challenging political turf. Thank you for being a voice for students and service workers, and for your countless unpaid hours volunteering to build this party. And thank you for always putting the members first.
Jonathan, your work recruiting dedicated, talented doctors in your region, coaching youth, and showing that we can both be fast and precise — I just want to thank you for also showing that Greens can run and win locally. You’ve really shown an impressive dedication and true strength that has rounded out our party.
Campaign Reflections
Our bold, progressive vision has captured the imagination of a new generation of Green members and voters. This campaign was electrifying. It was a lightning rod of hope.
We brought in thousands of new members to this party, many of whom were completely disillusioned with politics. And you all definitely put the party back in the Green Party.
Clearly, many people who have been Green Party members for a long time are ready for something new. Thank you for placing your trust in me.
Over the last 13 weeks, we punched through despair, through apathy, and cracked open a beaming window of possibility. Together, we are building a formidable political movement strong enough to take on this province’s billionaires, its largest corporations, and big oil, who take far more than they give. And we’ve only just begun.
Momentum and Growth
The response so far has been overwhelming. I’m humbled to receive endorsements during the campaign from many of my personal heroes like Dr. David Suzuki, Dr. Gabor Maté, Tzeporah Berman, and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.
I also want to thank my many incredible family members in the room right here: my grandparents, my sibling, my mom, and my dad’s over there.
Because of your support over the course of this campaign, BC Green membership saw unprecedented growth, with thousands of new members and nearly a threefold increase of youth membership under the age of 30. And that is a force to reckon with.
We now have more active members than the official opposition, and we are on track to win record numbers of seats in the next election with grassroots, riding-level organizing.
Defending Democracy
Democracy is in retreat around the globe. But I am encouraged to see so many young people in BC fighting back against the trend of apathy and disengagement.
British Columbians recognize that the path we’re on is a dangerous one, and that the BC Green Party has solutions. But we need to build our political power to make them real.
Sadly, the BCNDP is not up to the task of defending our shared values or the province we call home. They are making decisions based on scarcity and fear.
We live next door to a growing authoritarian political movement funded by billionaires who exploit their workers and abuse the planet we call home.
And where is David Eby this week? He was in New York rolling out the red carpet for Donald Trump’s inner circle of American oligarchs to buy and control even more of our province. And why? Because that is the extent of his political imagination.
Critique of the NDP
The NDP’s big idea to raise public revenue is to double down on raw resource exports — especially fossil fuels. No manufacturing, no innovation, no vision for a future beyond more foreign billionaires ripping and shipping our resources while families in BC wait for the wealth to trickle down. But it never will.
While workers wait for fair wages and homes we can afford, the BCNDP doubles down on mega-backed fossil fuel projects, ignores the need to obtain consent from Indigenous peoples, and refuses to care for our community members who have been broken by generations of trauma.
We’re being asked to settle for pathetic reforms, photo ops, and table scraps.
A Progressive Vision
But I believe that the horrors we are witnessing now are the death rattle of the old world. This unbearable pressure we feel is cracking the glass — and it is up to us to force a new world through.
I know that together we can make this party a force of nature. We can be an unignorable beacon, a sharp and exciting vehicle.
We can unmask the greed of the billionaire class and all the ways they exploit and harm others to grow their personal wealth.
We can build a plan to take back the public wealth that has been looted, with real taxation on the ultra-wealthy and the biggest corporations, to pay for our climate and affordability agenda.
So that we can build on our massive advantage in renewable energy and create thousands of good green jobs. So we can feed people healthy food, fight the commodification of housing, and rebuild the health care system.
We are at the forefront of a powerful movement that will reclaim BC’s economy for working people, not billionaires and multinational corporations.
Together, we can build a resilient, thriving province that respects Indigenous sovereignty and our planetary boundaries. And I know this is just the beginning.
Closing
My name is Emily Lowan, and as your BC Greens leader, I will continue to put everything I have on the line for our world and for our future — because we are worthy of better.
We are worthy of hope. And when we learn to believe that again, we can win.
Thank you.
