Photo: ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST

Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May celebrates winning her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands on Monday, April 28, 2025, during her election night watch party at Church & State Winery.

Green party co-leader Elizabeth May, who has held the Saanich-Gulf Islands seat since 2011, will be returning to Ottawa.

May, who throughout the campaign felt the electorate was leaning her way when polls suggested otherwise, proved many of the pundits wrong by taking about 41% per cent of the popular vote with 190 of 265 polls reporting.

May identified early on that Conservative challenger Cathie Ounsted would be her stiffest competition, as the Conservative Party has traditionally had strong support in the riding, but in preliminary results, Liberal David Beckham was in second place with about 28 per cent of the vote, while Ounsted was third with 26.5%.

Saanich councillor and NDP candidate Colin Plant was in a distant fourth place with less than 5% of the vote.

May had on several occasions tried to remind people climate change was still a threat, old growth forests are still under siege and killer whales are no longer thriving in the Salish Sea.

Some pundits felt the Greens were vulnerable as the climate issues took a back seat to trade issues and the economy.

Ounsted, who has lived in the riding for 37 years, believed the Conservative party’s broader appeal would give her the edge in the race.

May told the Times Colonist during the campaign that she was standing up to tackle the issues that mattered to the riding and that the other national party leaders had let fall from their platforms.

Four people were running in Saanich-Gulf Islands:

• David Beckham, Liberal Party

• Elizabeth May, Green Party

• Cathie Ounsted, Conservative Party

• Colin Plant, NDP