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Chris Bradshaw
Interim Leader of the Green Party of Canada
In office
2001–2003
Preceded byJoan Russow
Succeeded byJim Harris
Personal details
Born(1944-05-20)May 20, 1944
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DiedNovember 3, 2018(2018-11-03) (aged 74)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political partyGreen Party of Canada
Alma materOberlin College

Christopher John Bradshaw (May 20, 1944 – November 3, 2018) was a Canadian politician and businessman.[1][2] He served as interim leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2001 to 2003,[3] and has sought public office as a candidate of the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Ontario.[4]

Business

Bradshaw has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and worked for General Motors of Canada following his graduation.[4][2] He subsequently moved to Ottawa, Ontario, where he worked in a low-income community with the Company of Young Canadians, then as executive director of the CMHC-funded Canadian Organization of Public Housing Tenants, and then for 22 years as community relations specialist for the Planning Department of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton, retiring in 1995.[5] He then co-founded Vrtucar, a car-sharing service in Ottawa, in May 2000,[5] but sold his share to his partner in late 2006. The company continues to grow.

Advocacy

In 1988, he started Ottawalk,[2] the first pedestrian advocacy group in the continent. He was recognized by America Walks in 2001 as the "father of pedestrian advocacy in North America."[6]

Politics

In February 2001, Bradshaw was appointed interim leader of the federal Green Party, via election by the board.[3] Bradshaw helped organize the 2003 Green Party Leadership Convention in Ottawa, and was responsible for moving the party's central office to Ottawa from Toronto. In February 2003, he was succeeded as party leader by Jim Harris. At the 2002 national convention in Montreal, he was elected leader, with the understanding that the post would be filled on a more permanent basis in early 2003 via mail-in ballots.

Bradshaw ran for public office in the Ontario provincial election of 1999,[2] receiving 1,231 votes in Ottawa Centre.[4] In the 2003 election, he finished fourth with 3,821 votes (7.75%) in the same riding,[7][8] the highest vote percentage of any Green Party candidate in the province.

Federally, Bradshaw first ran for office in the general election of 2000.[2] Again campaigning in Ottawa Centre, he received 1529 votes for a fifth-place finish. In 2002, while serving as party leader, he contested a by-election in Bonavista—Trinity—Conception, Newfoundland[9] but received only 139 votes. Bradshaw ran in Newfoundland in an effort to foster a genuinely national party: there has been a history of division between the Terra Nova Green Party, which is the Newfoundland & Labrador Green Party Association, and the federal Green Party.

In the 2004 federal election, Bradshaw campaigned in the rural St. Lawrence Valley riding of Leeds—Grenville, replacing Jerry Heath who unexpectedly declined to run. Despite the last-minute substitution, Bradshaw received 5.5% of the votes cast (2,722), a significant improvement over the Green Party's previous 1.73%.

Electoral record

2004 Canadian federal election: Leeds—Grenville
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Gord Brown 26,002 50.46 -5.80 $69,173
Liberal Joe Jordan 16,967 32.93 -6.58 $60,373
New Democratic Steve Armstrong 5,834 11.32 +9.22 $10,009
Green Chris Bradshaw 2,722 5.28 +3.55 $532
Total valid votes 51,525 100.00
Conservative notional hold Swing +0.39


2003 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Richard Patten 22,295 45.10 +6.93 $ 72,458.74
New Democratic Jeff Atkinson 11,362 22.98 −2.48 49,598.63
Progressive Conservative Joe Varner 11,217 22.69 −10.05 17,112.70
Green Chris Bradshaw 3,821 7.73 +5.11 9,283.05
Communist Stuart Ryan 306 0.62 +0.25 878.30
Freedom Matt Szymanowicz 218 0.44   0.00
Independent Fakhry Guirguis 214 0.43   1,094.74
Total valid votes/expense limit 49,433 100.0   +5.08 $ 85,928.64
Total rejected ballots 360 0.72 −0.11
Turnout 49,793 55.63 +2.67
Eligible voters 89,509   −0.07
Source(s)
"General Election of October 2, 2003 — Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
"General Election of October 2, 2003 — Statistical Summary". Elections Ontario. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
"2003 Candidate and Constituency Association Returns — Candidate Campaign Returns (CR-1)". Retrieved May 28, 2014.
Canadian federal by-election, May 13, 2002: Bonavista-Trinity-Conception
Resignation of Brian Tobin
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Efford 18,665 74.82 20.44
Progressive Conservative Michelle Brazil 5,281 21.17 -5.93
New Democratic Jim Gill 588 2.36 -13.57
Alliance David Tulett 166 0.67 -1.92
Green Chris Bradshaw 139 0.56 –
Independent Brent Rockwood 106 0.42 –
Total valid votes 24,945 100.0
2000 Canadian federal election: Ottawa Centre
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mac Harb 22,710 40.00 -5.19
New Democratic Heather-Jane Robertson 13,516 23.81 +0.08
Alliance David Brown 10,167 17.91 +6.34
Progressive Conservative Beverly Mitchell 7,505 13.22 -3.11
Green Chris Bradshaw 1,531 2.70 +1.21
Marijuana Brad Powers 813 1.43
Canadian Action Carla Marie Dancey 210 0.37 -0.04
Communist Marvin Glass 139 0.24
Natural Law Neil Paterson 111 0.20
Marxist–Leninist Mistahi Corkill 66 0.12 -0.14
Total valid votes 56,768 100.00
1999 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Richard Patten 17,956 38.17 −1.09 $ 48,983.01
Progressive Conservative Ray Kostuch 15,403 32.74 +9.10 54,104.81
New Democratic Elisabeth Arnold 11,977 25.46 −7.77 58,863.46
Green Chris Bradshaw 1,231 2.62 +1.39 4,119.65
Communist Marvin Glass 174 0.37 −0.37 1,384.26
Natural Law Wayne Foster 170 0.36 −0.93 0.00
Independent Mistahi Corkill 132 0.28   0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 47,043 100.0   +65.64 $ 85,987.20
Total rejected ballots 395 0.83 −0.27
Turnout 47,438 52.96 −10.92
Eligible voters 89,570   +99.23
Source(s)
"General Election of June 3 1999 — Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
"General Election of June 3 1999 — Statistical Summary". Elections Ontario. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
"1999 Summary of Income and Campaign Expenses – Candidate Campaign Returns (CR-1)". Retrieved May 28, 2014.

References

  1. ^ "Christopher J. BRADSHAW". Ottawa: Ottawa Citizen. 10 November 2018. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e "CBC – Canada Votes 2004". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  3. ^ a b Rihoux, Benoît; Frankland, E. Gene; Rihoux, Benoڴit; Lucardie, Paul (2008). Green parties in transition: the end of grass-roots democracy?. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. pp. 236–37, 244. ISBN 978-0-7546-7429-0.
  4. ^ a b c Provencher, Norman (November 10, 2018). "Obituary: Chris Bradshaw, 'Car-lite' advocate, co-founded Vrtucar". Ottawa Citizen.
  5. ^ a b "Drivers Take a Back Seat to Car Buying". Oberlin Alumni Magazine. 96 (4). Spring 2001. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  6. ^ Gallagher, Eugene; Ashcraft, Michael. Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African diaspora traditions and other American innovations. p. 172. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  7. ^ "The 107 new MPs elected to 38th Parliament". The Hill Times. July 5, 2004. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  8. ^ "CBC – Ontario Votes 2003 – Ridings". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
  9. ^ "Constituency Profile". webinfo.parl.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
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