Carole James
Carole Alison James (born December 22, 1957, in Dukinfield, England) is British Columbia's Leader of the Official Opposition and the current leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia, a social democratic political party in Canada.
James was raised in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and in Victoria, British Columbia. She served on the Greater Victoria School Board from 1990 to 2001, including seven terms as Chair, and gained a province-wide profile in her unprecedented five terms as President of the BC School Trustees' Association. She also served at the national level as Vice-President of the Canadian School Boards Association. In addition, James served two years as Director of Child Care Policy for the provincial B.C. Government.
In 2001, she ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill.
She subsequently moved to Prince George, British Columbia to serve as the Director of Child and Family Services for Carrier Sekani Family Services.
James was elected the new leader of the NDP on November 23, 2003. At the time of her election the party was suffering low morale in the wake of the 2001 provincial election, which had reduced the NDP to only two seats in the Legislative Assembly. During her campaign to win the party leadership, James pledged to modernize the NDP's ideology and internal structures and build a broader base of support for the party, a move which alienated some traditional supporters.
During the 2005 provincial election, James campaigned heavily on her name and image, like Ujjal Dosanjh before her. On election night James surprised many supporters and critics alike with a very strong electoral showing, winning 41.52% of the popular vote (a 19.96% increase from the 2001 election result) and 33 out of 79 seats in the Legislative Assembly. James also won her own seat in her Victoria-Beacon Hill riding with 57.21% of the vote, defeating the incumbent B.C. Liberal MLA Jeff Bray by an almost 2-1 margin of victory.
James is part Métis and the mother of two children, Alison and Evan, in addition to having been a foster parent for over two decades. She does not identify with any organized religion. On May 22, 2004, she married Albert Gerow, an artist and former Burns Lake, British Columbia municipal councillor and RCMP officer.
On July 13, 2006, James announced publicly that she had been diagnosed with localized uterine endometrial cancer.