Quick Facts
Biography
Jo-Ann Roberts (born 1956) is a Canadian politician and former journalist who currently serves as the interim leader of the Green Party of Canada since November 4, 2019, having been appointed upon Elizabeth May stepping down from the party's leadership role.
Roberts previously served as the party's deputy leader since March 2018 and was a broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She has been a federal Green Party candidate twice in the past, running in Victoria in 2015 and in Halifax in 2019. She was appointed to be deputy leader of the party in 2018, serving alongside Daniel Green.
Personal life
Roberts has a B.A. from Mount Allison University and a journalism degree from Carleton University.
She is married to Ken Kelly, with whom she has four adult children. She also has two grandchildren and cites the birth of her first grandchild as one of the forces which compelled her to move into politics in 2014. Roberts has claimed that she wanted to have an adequate answer if her granddaughter asked her what she had done to fight climate change.
Political career
Roberts left her job at the CBC in 2014 to pursue a career in advocacy for public communication and the environment. She decided to run as a Green Party candidate in Victoria for the 2015 federal election campaign. While she had been approached by other parties, she claimed that the Green Party platform was the one which most aligned with her beliefs. She came second in 2015 with almost 24,000 votes, which is more votes than was received by 131 MPs who were elected.
After the election, Roberts and her family moved back to her childhood hometown of Halifax. In 2018, she was appointed by Elizabeth May to serve as the deputy leader of the party, alongside Daniel Green. She ran as the Green Party candidate in Halifax in the 2019 federal election, finishing in third with 14% of the vote.
On November 4, 2019, Elizabeth May announced that she would be stepping down as leader of the Green Party, effective immediately. She then named Roberts as the new interim leader until a new leader could be elected at the party convention in October 2020.
Roberts serves as host and producer for the Green Party podcast, People, Politics, and Planet.
Electoral record
| 2019 Canadian federal election: Halifax | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Andy Fillmore | 23,681 | 42.48 | −9.25 | ||||
| New Democratic | Christine Saulnier | 16,747 | 30.04 | −6.09 | ||||
| Green | Jo-Ann Roberts | 8,013 | 14.37 | +11.08 | ||||
| Conservative | Bruce Holland | 6,456 | 11.58 | +2.97 | ||||
| People's | Duncan McGenn | 633 | 1.14 | – | ||||
| Animal Protection | Bill Wilson | 222 | 0.40 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 55,752 | 100.0 | $102,876.75 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 361 | 0.64 | +0.15 | |||||
| Turnout | 56,113 | 75.04 | +0.36 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 74,778 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election: Victoria | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Murray Rankin | 30,397 | 42.28 | -8.50 | $222,151.95 | |||
| Green | Jo-Ann Roberts | 23,666 | 32.92 | +21.31 | $147,733.88 | |||
| Liberal | Cheryl Thomas | 8,489 | 11.81 | -2.18 | $36,199.72 | |||
| Conservative | John Rizzuti | 8,480 | 11.79 | -11.83 | $72,891.79 | |||
| Libertarian | Art Lowe | 539 | 0.75 | +0.26 | $900.00 | |||
| Animal Alliance | Jordan Reichert | 200 | 0.28 | – | $10,110.17 | |||
| Independent | Saul Andersen | 124 | 0.17 | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 71,895 | 100.00 | $234,268.29 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 241 | 0.33 | ||||||
| Turnout | 72,136 | 77.92 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 92,574 | |||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | -14.90 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
