Green Party Leader Elizabeth May hospitalized for fatigue and stress, husband says

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, was hospitalized last week due to what her husband describes as fatigue, overwork and stress, according to a weekly update to her constituents.

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, was hospitalized last week due to what her husband describes as fatigue, overwork and stress, according to a weekly update to her constituents.

May's husband John Kidder wrote in the update Monday that May "spent a few days under observation" at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital, north of Victoria.

"She was discharged on Saturday morning to come home and keep resting for a bit to restore her much-depleted energy," Kidder said.

"Does it not seem odd to you that we expect our parliamentarians to work double shifts through May and June, sometimes 19-hour days, to sit until midnight almost every day, to keep up with their always demanding constituency work, and still to have minds at all?"

Kidder went on to say that neither he nor May, who has served as a Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands since 2011, has a family doctor.

He said the couple has been relegated – like so many in British Columbia – to waiting to receive primary health care in an emergency room or calling around to walk-in clinics before they fill up for the day.

Saanich Peninsula Hospital, where May was admitted, announced last week that its emergency department would close overnight for the next two months due to a shortage of staff.