Peter Stewart Bevan-Baker (born 3 June 1962) is a Scottish-Canadian politician, currently the leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island and a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island (french: Assemblée législative de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard) is the sole chamber of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island. The Legislative Assembly meets at Province House, which is locat ...

representing New Haven-Rocky Point (formerly representing

Kellys Cross-Cumberland Kellys Cross-Cumberland was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was previously known as Crapaud-Hazel Grove. It was the first provincial constituency to elect a member of the Green P ...

.) He previously stood as a candidate for both the Green Party of Ontario and 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 e ...

. Bevan-Baker is a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial c ...

by profession as well as being an active writer, musician and public speaker. As a result of the 2019 election, Bevan-Baker is the current Leader of the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

in the 66th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island."Seven things to know about the P.E.I. election results"

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

, 23 April 2019.

Personal life

He is the second child of composer John Bevan Baker and June Findlay. He holds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. In 1985 he emigrated to Canada, living first in

Lewisporte, Newfoundland Lewisporte is a town in central Newfoundland, Canada, with a population of 3,288. It is situated in Burnt Bay which opens on to the Bay of Exploits. Lewisporte has a deep water port and related facilities that serve many communities in the re ...

and then Brockville,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

before settling in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

in 2003. He became a Canadian citizen in 1992.

Political career

Bevan-Baker joined the Green Party of Canada in 1992, and has run as a candidate for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commo ...

in the elections of 1993, 1997 in the riding of Leeds—Grenville and provincially in 1995 in the riding of Leeds-Grenville in Ontario, and 2008 and 2011 in Malpeque, PEI. In 1997, he ran on a platform that advocated establishing a Genuine Progress Index (GPI). This was proposed to replace the

Gross Domestic Product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...

(GDP) as the standard measure for assessing national progress with an index that gauged the health and well-being of people, communities and eco-systems. Though not elected from 1997 to 2001, he forged an alliance with Liberal MP

Joe Jordan Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He is currently a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth. A former striker, he played for Leeds United, Manchester United, and Milan, among others at club ...

to draft the Canada Well-Being Measurement Bill (C-268), which incorporated many of the central tenets of the GPI. The bill received first reading on 14 February 2001, but did not become law. Bevan-Baker has also run three times as a candidate in provincial elections in Ontario, and on Prince Edward Island in the riding of Kelly's Cross-Cumberland in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

. In 2012 he spearheaded a coalition from a broad spectrum of Islanders against a project known as "

Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B may also refer to: * Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug Film and television * Plan B Ent ...

", which involved rerouting a portion of the Trans Canada Highway through a section of ancient Acadian forest, citing negative environmental and fiscal implications for the province. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, Bevan-Baker was elected to the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly with 54% of the vote, winning the first-ever seat for the Green Party of Prince Edward Island. It was his tenth attempt at winning a seat.Tenth time lucky for the Green Party’s Peter Bevan-Baker
''Macleans''. 6 May 2015. He is the third member of a provincial Green Party to win a seat in a provincial legislature in Canada, following

Andrew Weaver Andrew John Weaver is a Canadian scientist and politician who represented the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head from 2013 to 2020 in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. Weaver was the leader of the Green Party of British Columbia from 2015 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

and

David Coon David Charles Coon (born 28 October 1956 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2014 provincial election to represent the provincial electoral district of Fredericton ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. In 2019 the Green Party under Bevan-Baker's leadership witnessed the best electoral performance of any Green Party in Canada, finishing with enough seats to form the Official Opposition, marking the first time that the Green Party has formed the Official Opposition at any level in Canadian history.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan-Baker, Peter 1962 births Alumni of the University of Glasgow Canadian dentists Green Party of Ontario candidates in Ontario provincial elections Green Party of Prince Edward Island MLAs Leaders of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island Living people Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament Politicians from Aberdeen Prince Edward Island candidates for Member of Parliament Scottish emigrants to Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians Naturalized citizens of Canada