Elizabeth May, Canada's most well known and dynamic environmentalist, was elected last week to lead the Federal Green Party of Canada.

Elizabeth recently stepped down as Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada to run for the position of Leader of the Greens.

Elizabeth won the leadership with 65 percent of the votes on the first ballot. She beat David Chernushenko, the party's deputy leader, and Jim Fannon, a four-time Green candidate.

Back in June, when Captain Paul Watson attended the Sierra Club-hosted Planet Summit event in Ottawa, he told an audience that Elizabeth May would be the new leader of the Green Party. "No one else in Canada has the reputation, the energy, the dedication, and the experience that Elizabeth has - she is the perfect candidate for this position."

Elizabeth who comes from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, has been an environmental champion for three decades. After leading a successful campaign against pesticide spraying in Nova Scotia, she was appointed to be the environmental advisor to the Conservative Minister of the Environment with the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

The Greens received 4.5 percent of the national vote in the last Federal election, enough to secure $1 million a year in federal funding.

Outgoing leader Jim Harris who stepped down after holding the position since 2003 says voters disillusioned with the mainstream parties are finding a home with the Greens.
"We draw pretty much equally from across the entire political spectrum," he told CBC News. "If you were a Progressive Conservative, as I was, where do you go? The Green party supports Kyoto. We were opposed to the war in Iraq and yet at the same time we're fiscally responsible. This is something that's attractive to people."