| Peter Bevan-Baker | |
| Birth Name: | Peter Stewart Bevan-Baker |
| Birth Date: | 1962 6, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MLA |
| Office: | Leader of the Opposition in Prince Edward Island |
| Term Start: | 9 May 2019 |
| Term End: | 3 April 2023 |
| Predecessor: | James Aylward |
| Successor: | Hal Perry |
| Office2: | Member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island |
| Constituency3: | Kellys Cross-Cumberland |
| Term Start3: | 4 May 2015 |
| Term End4: | 21 July 2023 |
| Term End3: | 26 March 2019 |
| Predecessor3: | Valerie Docherty |
| Successor3: | Riding dissolved |
| Constituency2: | New Haven-Rocky Point |
| Term Start2: | 23 April 2019 |
| Predecessor2: | Riding established |
| Office4: | Leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island |
| Deputy4: | Lynne Lund (2015–2023) |
| Term Start4: | 3 November 2012 |
| Predecessor4: | Darcie Lanthier (interim) |
| Successor4: | Karla Bernard (interim) |
| Education: | University of Glasgow |
| Party: | Green |
| Occupation: | Dentist |
| Residence: | Bonshaw, Prince Edward Island[1] |
Peter Stewart Bevan-Baker[2] (born 3 June 1962) is a Scottish-Canadian politician. He served as the leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island from 2012 to 2023.[3] He is currently the member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island representing New Haven-Rocky Point (formerly representing Kellys Cross-Cumberland). He previously stood as a candidate for both the Green Party of Ontario and the Green Party of Canada. Bevan-Baker is a dentist by profession as well as being an active writer, musician and public speaker. Bevan-Baker served as the Leader of the Official Opposition in the 66th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 2019 to 2023.[4]
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. In 1985 he emigrated to Canada, living first in Lewisporte, Newfoundland and then Brockville, Ontario before settling in Prince Edward Island in 2003. He became a Canadian citizen in 1992.[5] [6]
Bevan-Baker joined the Green Party of Canada in 1992, and has run as a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada 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.[7]
In 1997, he ran on a platform that advocated establishing a Genuine Progress Index (GPI). This was proposed to replace the Gross Domestic Product (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 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 and 2011.[8]
In 2012 he spearheaded a coalition from a broad spectrum of Islanders against a project known as "Plan B", 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, 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.[9] It was his tenth attempt at winning a seat.[10] He is the third member of a provincial Green Party to win a seat in a provincial legislature in Canada, following Andrew Weaver in British Columbia and David Coon in New Brunswick.
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.
Following the 2023 election Bevan-Baker announced his intention to resign as leader.[11] He was succeeded by fellow MLA Karla Bernard on an interim basis.[12]