Chris Bradshaw
Encyclopedia
Christopher John Bradshaw (born 1944 in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician and business person. He served as interim leader of the Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

 from 2001 to 2003, and has sought public office as a candidate of the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Ontario
Green Party of Ontario
The Green Party of Ontario is a political party in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Mike Schreiner. It has never held any seats in the Ontario Legislative Assembly; however, the party did see significant gains in the 2007 provincial election, earning 8% of the popular vote with some candidates...

.

Bradshaw has a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, and worked for General Motors of Canada following his graduation. He subsequently moved to Ottawa, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, where he worked as community relations specialist for the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, retiring in 1995. He then co-founded Vrtucar, a car-sharing service in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, in May 2000, but has since sold his share in the group.

Bradshaw promotes walking as a form of transportation. 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
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

."

In 2001, after Joan Russow
Joan Russow
Joan Elizabeth Russow is a Canadian peace activist and former national leader of the Green Party of Canada from 1997 to 2001.-Early career:...

 resigned the leadership of the federal Green Party, Bradshaw was appointed interim leader. 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 2003, he was succeeded as party leader by Jim Harris
Jim Harris (politician)
James R. M. "Jim" Harris is a Canadian author, environmentalist, and politician. He was leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006, when he was succeeded by Elizabeth May.-Early life and Green activism:...

.

Bradshaw first ran for public office in the Ontario provincial election of 1999
Ontario general election, 1999
An Ontario general election was held on June 3, 1999, to elect members of the 37th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, receiving 1,231 votes in Ottawa Centre
Ottawa Centre (provincial electoral district)
Ottawa Centre is an urban provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1968...

. In the 2003 election
Ontario general election, 2003
The Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, he finished fourth with 3,821 votes (7.75%) in the same riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

, the highest vote percentage of any Green Party candidate in the province.

Federally, Bradshaw first ran for office in the general election of 2000
Canadian federal election, 2000
The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....

. 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
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 in Bonavista—Trinity—Conception
Bonavista—Trinity—Conception
Bonavista—Trinity—Conception was a federal electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 2003....

, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

 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
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

, Bradshaw campaigned in the rural Ottawa Valley
Ottawa Valley
The Ottawa Valley is the valley along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec along the Ottawa River. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield...

 riding of Leeds—Grenville
Leeds—Grenville
Leeds—Grenville is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.It consists of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.-History:...

, 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%.
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