Christopher John Bradshaw (May 20, 1944 – November 3, 2018) was a Canadian politician and businessman. He served as interim leader of the

Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada (french: Parti vert du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1983 with a focus on green politics. The Green Party is currently the fifth largest party in the House of Commons by seat count. It el ...

from 2001 to 2003, and has sought public office as a candidate of the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Ontario.

Business

Bradshaw has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and worked for

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

of Canada following his graduation. He subsequently moved to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, 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. He then co-founded

Vrtucar Communauto is a Canadian carsharing company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that in fifteen Canadian cities and Paris, France. As of March 2018 it had 40,000 users, and a fleet of approximately 2,000 free-floating and station-based vehicles. ...

, a car-sharing service in Ottawa, in May 2000, but sold his share to his partner in late 2006. The company continues to grow.

Advocacy

In 1988, he started Ottawalk, 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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Politics

In February 2001, Bradshaw was appointed interim leader of the federal Green Party, via election by the board. 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, receiving 1,231 votes in Ottawa Centre. In the 2003 election, he finished fourth with 3,821 votes (7.75%) in the same riding, the highest vote percentage of any Green Party candidate in the province. Federally, Bradshaw first ran for office in the general election of 2000. 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 Bonavista—Trinity—Conception was a federal electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2003. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Bonavista—Twillin ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

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 Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

, 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradshaw, Chris 1944 births 2018 deaths Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2004 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada leaders Politicians from Ottawa Politicians from Vancouver Businesspeople from Ottawa Businesspeople from Vancouver Green Party of Ontario candidates in Ontario provincial elections Sustainable transport pioneers