NDP Leader Carole James said voters sent a clear message to the governing Liberals when her party won two seats in the October 2008 byelections. (CBC) When Carole James won the leadership of B.C.'s New Democratic Party in 2003, she said her biggest challenge was to win back voters who had turned away from a decade of NDP governments in the 2001 election and handed B.C.'s social democrats their worst defeat in nearly 70 years.
In the 2005 election she made good on her promise, rebuilding the party from just three seats in the legislature — without even official party status — to 33 seats, making her the leader of the Opposition.
Now, more than five years after taking the reins of B.C.'s left-wing party, James has a chance to become the B.C. NDP's fifth premier since Dave Barrett first won a mandate in 1972.
School board years
James's political career began at the grassroots level when she got involved with her children's pre-school parents' group. In 1990 she was elected to the Greater Victoria School Board and served until 2001, including seven terms as chair.
She also served five terms as president of the B.C. School Trustees Association and was vice-president of the Canadian School Boards Association.
By 1997 she was battling the then-NDP government over a plan to reduce the number of school districts from 79 to 37, eventually forcing the education minister to accept a compromise of 59 districts and raising her own provincial profile in the process.
The party recognized her political talents and in 2001 James won the NDP nomination in the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill. In the election, which was the party's worst defeat ever, James showed her political experience and was only narrowly defeated by 35 votes after a recount.
Moving north
After the election, James left her job as B.C.'s director of child-care policy and moved to Prince George to become the director of child and family services for the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council and later the co-ordinator with the Northern Aboriginal Authority for Families.
But in 2003 when interim NDP leader Joy MacPhail announced she was stepping down, James decided to re-enter politics and run in the party leadership race.
In her leadership campaign, James called for an end to the polarization in B.C. politics and the restoration of balance in the political system. She went on to defeat five other candidates, winning the leadership on the second ballot.
Surge in 2005
Going into the 2005 election, James said she expected to pick up about 24 seats for the party. But on election night she surprised even herself when the party won 33 seats.
B.C. NDP Leader Carole James speaks to supporters in Victoria after picking up 33 seats in the 2005 election. (Canadian Press) And even though the party lost again to the Liberals, who took 46 seats, the result was still considered a victory by James. Overall the party picked up 41 per cent of the popular vote, a 19 per cent improvement from the previous election and only four per cent less than the Liberals.
And after her narrow defeat in 2001, James herself won her first seat in the legislature in Victoria-Beacon Hill with 57 per cent of the vote.
Since her election in 2005, James has served as the leader of B.C.'s Opposition in the legislature and has taken key positions opposing the Liberal government's carbon tax, funding levels for schools, hospitals, seniors' care and other social services, and arguing for a higher minimum wage.
James has also led a reform of the internal structure of the NDP, reducing the ties to organized labour by requiring all new members to sign up as individuals and ending the practice of letting unions buy bulk party memberships.
Under James, the party also won two byelections in October 2008, increasing its seats by one to 34.
Raised in Saskatchewan
While Carole Alison James has lived most of her adult life in B.C., she was born in London, England, in 1957. But shortly after her birth her mother moved back to Saskatchewan to marry James's father.
Carole James celebrates with federal NDP Leader Jack Layton after being chosen the leader of the B.C. NDP. (Canadian Press)Her parents had a second child, but separated a short time later. After the breakup, her mother moved James and her baby sister in with her grandparents in North Battleford, while her mother studied for a teaching degree in Saskatoon.
After the grandmother lost a leg to frostbite in a bad storm, the whole extended family decided to move to Victoria for the milder climate in 1962.
In Victoria, James was raised in an extended family that included her mother, her sister, her grandparents, and over the years, about 40 foster children.
James graduated from high school in Victoria and then moved to Alberta with her first husband where they worked in an institution for the mentally handicapped.
She didn't stay in Alberta long, moving back to Victoria to work at a similar institution, but left work to have her two children.
James was also a foster parent for 20 years, caring for children and adults with special needs, many of them of First Nations heritage. She once said a genealogical search revealed that her father was of Métis heritage, which has strengthened her connection to her foster children.
After separating from her first husband, in 2004 James married her partner, Albert Gerow, a First Nations artist, community development consultant and former RCMP officer, who is member of the Burns Lake Band.
In July 2006, James announced publicly that she had uterine cancer and underwent surgery and radiation treatment. She has since said her prognosis is excellent.
