David Chernushenko

David Chernushenko (b. June 1963, Calgary, Alberta) is a businessman, politician and environmentalist in Ontario, Canada. He is the former Senior Deputy to the Leader of the Green Party of Canada, and a former leadership contestant for that party.

A graduate of Queen's University (political science) and alumnus of Cambridge University (international relations), Chernushenko has worked for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the United Nations Environment Programme. He has served on committees and boards of local housing and environment groups, schools and health advisory bodies.

As of 2006, Chernushenko owns and operates Green & Gold Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in recommending ways to increase efficiency and reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of athletic events and facilities. He is co-founder Clean Air Champions, an advocacy group consisting primarily of athletes working to improve air quality in Canada.

He was the Green Party candidate for Ottawa Centre in the 2004 federal election. He finished fourth with 4,730 votes (8%), receiving more votes than any other Green candidate in Ottawa. He also ran in the 2003 provincial election, receiving 1,741 votes in Ottawa South.

Chernushenko ran again in Ottawa Centre in the 2006 federal election and again came fourth, losing to Paul Dewar from the New Democratic Party (NDP). Chernushenko received 6,766 votes (10.2%), the highest vote count of any Green Party candidate in the 2006 election. He passed the 10% threshold, thus becoming eligible for partial government reimbursement of campaign expenditures.

The fourth-place finish came despite Green Party claims they could win Ottawa Centre. Chernushenko was endorsed by the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in 2004 and 2006.

On November 10, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Chernushenko as a member the National Roundtable on Environment and the Economy, a panel that advises Ottawa on environmental policy.

Chernushenko resigned as deputy leader of the Green Party in July 2007 in order to devote more time to his business and the National Roundtable. Since then, he has started the Living Lightly project and produced a documentary titled Be The Change.

2006 Leadership bid
On March 30, 2006, David Chernushenko announced his bid for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. He was seen as a party insider, close to the positions of previous leader Jim Harris, in contrast to Elizabeth May, who was seen as more of a traditional activist. Chernushenko received 33.38% of the votes in the election, losing to May. Since that time, Chernushenko has been critical of Ms May's leadership of the party, and has publicly spoken out about her mixed messages surrounding strategic voting in the 2008 federal election, an issue that some party insiders blamed for the Greens' lower-than-expected results in that election.

Electoral record

 * Ottawa Centre


 * Ed Broadbent
 * align=right|25,734
 * Richard Mahoney
 * align=right|19,478
 * Mike Murphy
 * align=right| 11,933


 * David Chernushenko
 * align=right|4,730


 * Michael Foster
 * align=right|455


 * Robert Gauthier
 * align=right|121


 * Stuart Ryan
 * align=right|90


 * Carla Marie Dancey
 * align=right|76


 * Louis Lang
 * align=right|67


 * style="width: 130px" |Liberal
 * Dalton McGuinty
 * align="right"|24,647
 * align="right"|51.7
 * align="right"|+2.1
 * Progressive Conservative
 * Richard Raymond
 * align="right"|16,413
 * align="right"|34.4
 * align="right"|-5.8

!align="left" colspan=3|Total !align="right"|47,669 !align="right"| !align="right"|
 * New Democratic Party
 * James McLaren
 * align="right"|4,306
 * align="right"|9.0
 * align="right"|+3.2
 * Green
 * David Chernushenko
 * align="right"|1,741
 * align="right"|3.7
 * align="right"|+2.1
 * Family Coalition
 * John Pacheco
 * align="right"|562
 * align="right"|1.2
 * align="right"|
 * - bgcolor="white"