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Andrew Weaver makes history in BC, becomes first Green in provincial legislature

It was a night of firsts in British Columbia.

On Tuesday, Christy Clark surprised the pollsters and pundits and became the first ever elected female premier in the province's history.

[ Related: Liberals pull off surprise victory in B.C. election ]

It was also a first for the Green Party.

Andrew Weaver — a University of Victoria climate scientist — has won his seat in the Vancouver Island riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head becoming the first Green Party candidate elected to a provincial legislature in all of Canada.

Weaver beat out NDP candidate Jessica Van Der Veen and former Liberal Cabinet Minister Ida Chong.

"Tonight we've made history," Weaver told an exuberant crowd at his campaign office on Tuesday night.

"This race that we've won is only made possible because two years ago [federal Green Party leader] Elizabeth May challenged the politics of possibility in her effort to become the Green Party MP, the first Green Party MP in Canadian history."

Like their federal cousins, the B.C. Green Party put a lot of their resources — both time and money — on to winning a seat in this region of the province.

May — who campaigned with Weaver last weekend — tweeted her congratulations:

Weaver brings an impressive resume to the legislature.

In addition to his work at the University of Victoria, he was a member of Al Gore's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which in 2007 won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Weaver, a member of the Order of British Columbia, is also a Canada Research Chair in climate modeling and analysis and has authored or coauthored nearly two hundred peer-reviewed studies in scientific journals.

Green Party leader Jane Sterk didn't secure a seat for herself and had said that she will step down as leader if she failed to win.

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