James Robert Beddome (born October 2, 1983) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer and politician who was the former leader of the

Green Party of Manitoba The Green Party of Manitoba (french: Parti vert du Manitoba) ('GPM') is a green provincial political party in Manitoba, Canada, founded on November 11, 1998. The party is legally autonomous from the Green Party of Canada, though for several yea ...

from November 2014 to March 2023. He has run in several elections for the provincial party, and was also 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 ...

candidate in Winnipeg South Centre for the 2019 federal election. He works as lawyer in Manitoba.

Early life and career

Beddome was born in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, and was raised on a livestock farm north of

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. He has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Studies and Economics from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Nesbitt Burns The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

. In 2008, he and two partners started a bicycle taxi service in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. Beddome joined the Green Party of Manitoba in 2006, and soon became the chair of its economic policy committee. He worked on

Kaj Hasselriis Kaj Hasselriis (born January 4, 1974) is a Canadian journalist, community activist and politician. Hasselriis was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is a lifelong Winnipegger. He earned a sociology degree from the University of Manitoba in 1995 as we ...

's campaign for

Mayor of Winnipeg The mayor of Winnipeg is a member of Winnipeg City Council, but does not represent a ward. The position of mayor was created in 1873 following the incorporation of Winnipeg. Since 1998, the term of office has been for four years. The 44th and cu ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and stood as the Green candidate for the rural division of Minnedosa in the 2007 provincial election. He travelled by bicycle in the latter campaign, carrying a trailer and sleeping at campsites. Beddome said that he wanted to raise awareness about clean modes of transportation as well as the problems faced by family farms.

Party leader

Beddome was elected to a two-year term as Manitoba Green Party leader on November 15, 2008, defeating incumbent Andrew Basham and third candidate Shane Nestruck. After his victory, he said that he would work toward running a full slate of candidates in the next provincial election. He was the party's candidate for a by-election in the northeast Winnipeg division of Elmwood in early 2009. In 2011, he ran as the party's candidate for Wolseley in the general election that year. In 2013, Beddome stepped down as leader to focus on completing his articles of law after graduating from the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba. Alain Landry was appointed interim party leader for the Manitoba Greens in November 2013. Beddome ran as a candidate in the party's 2014 leadership race, and was reelected as party leader in November 2014. In the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

provincial elections he ran in

Fort Garry-Riverview Fort Garry-Riverview was a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by the decennial electoral redistribution in 2008, out of parts of Lord Roberts and Fort Garry. It was in south-central Winnipeg. It b ...

and then Fort Rouge. In the 2019 federal election, he ran in Winnipeg South Centre. Beddome had been planning on running for federal election in 2019 before Brian Pallister called the provincial elections early. He was prepared to retract his federal campaign and had a replacement candidate in place, should he have won the provincial seat but Beddome did not win in either election. In May 2022, Beddome announced that he would step down as leader of the Green Party of Manitoba. He was succeeded by Janine Gibson on March 26, 2023.

Electoral record

References

External links

*
Interview with James Beddome, Leader of the Green Party of Manitoba

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(August 2019) {{DEFAULTSORT:Beddome, James 1983 births Living people Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2019 Canadian federal election Leaders of the Green Party of Manitoba Politicians from Brandon, Manitoba