Mr. Speaker, sadly, Carole James, leader of the B.C. New Democrats, announced her resignation yesterday.
I first came to know Carole when she was running for the leadership of the provincial NDP in 2003. At that time there were just two NDP seats in the provincial legislature as the party had reached its lowest level in three-quarters of a century.
We were all impressed with her energy, her poise and endurance as she tirelessly set to work to rebuild the party. Through her determination, calm and quiet confidence, Carole rallied broad support from the grassroots. She travelled throughout B.C., small towns to big cities, and she brought the party from two seats to three dozen seats and came within a few thousand votes of victory in 2005 and 2009.
We honour Carole as a friend. We thank her for re-establishing a vigorous agenda for social justice with a strong and vibrant NDP presence in every region of British Columbia. We thank her for her dedication to this worthy course.
New Democrats owe her so very much.