Toronto businessman and entrepreneur Mike Schreiner is the new leader of the Green Party of Ontario.
mR. Schreiner was the only candidate running to replace outgoing leader Frank de Jong.
He was confirmed to the position Saturday evening at the party's leadership convention in London.
Mr. de Jong led the party for 16 years and announced his resignation earlier this year.
Under Mr. de Jong, the party grew from capturing less than one per cent of the popular vote in 1995 to more than eight per cent in 2007.
Mr. Schreiner is promising to be the party's first full-time leader; Mr. de Jong worked part-time as a Toronto-area schoolteacher.
"There's a sense of a new beginning, and a new era in the party," said Mr. Schreiner in an interview Saturday.
As for where he'll run in 2011, Mr. Schreiner said he hasn't made that decision yet.
But the party, he said, is targeting a number of key ridings -including Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, where they finished a strong second in 2007.