Carole James quits as leader of B.C. New Democrats

After 13 dissident MLAs called for a leadership convention to replace her, B.C.’s New Democrat Party leader Carole James has announced she’ll step down. That means both of the province’s dominant political parties will have new leaders some time in the new year. Liberal premier Gordon Campbell  announced in November that he will resign from his post in 2011, after his approval rating plummeted to 9 per cent. James’ move comes after Jenny Kwan announced that she and 13 other MLAs thought James was doing the party more harm than good. James shot back at those MLAs in her speech in Victoria this afternoon. "Fighting amongst ourselves was not what we were elected to do,” she said. “The NDP cannot present itself as a government in waiting with all of this infighting," she added. After running B.C. for nearly a decade, the NDP was reduced to just 2 seats in 2001. Under James, it garnered 33 seats in 2005 and gained two more in the 2009 vote.

Vancouver Sun