It took nine days to determine it but the BC election results have been finalized and the NDP will retain its grip on power for a third straight term.
By the slimmest majority, David Eby’s party won the mandate to govern the province, claiming 47 seats, while the Conservatives count 44 seats and the Greens have two.
Moving forward, that puts the NDP in the precarious position of requiring all 47 of its elected MLAs available to guarantee their votes will pass.
“It’s a pretty thin majority and they still have to pick a speaker - I don’t think there will be a lot of appetite from the other parties to pick a speaker and their majority becomes much less valuable, the math is a problem for them,” said Sheldon Clare, the newly-elected MLA for Prince George-North Cariboo.
“If anything, this election has shown (the NDP) that there’s a great deal of concern with their program and British Columbians are not on side with their program and there’s a great deal of opposition to it.”
Conservative leader John Rustad, about to begin his sixth term as MLA for Nechako Lakes, posted on X his comments about how his party has risen from virtual invisibility to become an opposition party only a few seats shy of forming the government.
“We have made history in BC. Just 18 months ago, the Conservative Party of BC was at 2% in the polls, had no members, no money, no team,” said Rustad.
“But what we did have was grit, determination and a massive grassroots movement that would make the impossible happen. I am immensely proud to lead a party that went from zero seats to 44 and almost government in just a year.”
Because the vote was so close in several electoral districts, it took more than week to make sure the final tallies were correct. There are still two ridings – Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Centre – won by the NDP by margins of less than 1/500th of the total number of votes cast that will go through a judicial review.
Clare doesn’t anticipate any changes in the outcomes and was impressed with how the vote was handled by the authorities.
“I think Elections BC did a terrific job under a lot of pressure and scrutiny,” said Clare. “I’m satisfied they came up with an accurate result and we can be confident that our voting system works.”
He said he and his team started campaigning in December and knocked on 14,000 doors. He captured 56.82 per cent of the vote, defeating independent incumbent Coralee Oakes, who had 21.84 per cent.
“It’s a fact that political campaigns need to work very hard on voter identity and getting out their vote and it's critically important for people to understand that every vote matters,” said Clare.
“The processes Election BC went through are unusual because usually we have a clear result on voting day and they don’t matter as much. They’re still counted for final count but they don’t generally change the final results. In this case we had such a razor-thin margin with the votes it’s been really important.”
The Oct. 19 cliffhanger showed the NDP elected or leading in 46 ridings, with Conservatives holding 45 seats. But a count of the mail-in/absentee ballots flipped the Surrey-Guildford riding in favour of incumbent NDP Garry Begg, who trailed Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa when the initial results were released late on election day.
“Obviously the voters in Prince George-Mackenzie had their say and it was resounding,” said Conservative Kiel Giddens, elected with a 60.97 per cent majority over NDP Shar McCrory, who was next in line and got 28.36 per cent of the vote.
“There were some other ridings where it was much more close, very tight, and every vote matters,” Giddens said.
“Ultimately with the overall election results, this is democracy and the voters are never wrong, so we’ll work with it and we’ll have a very strong opposition voice to the NDP there in Victoria. This is the largest opposition caucus that this province has had in a very long time. I think it will be a very strong opposition that will hold the government to account.”
Giddens also expressed his confidence in the accuracy of the vote conducted by Elections BC and said he personally witnessed how the voting machines work.
He and the other Conservative MLAs gathered with Rustad in a two-day meeting in Vancouver last week to discuss their immediate strategy.
“There are very strong MLA’s elected and I think we’ll have some good voices to work together to try to get results for British Columbians,” said Giddens. “For the majority of us it was the first time meeting in person and we had a chance to talk about practical things like getting a caucus organized and getting constituency offices organized. Our aim is to be up and running for constituents as soon as possible.”
Giddens hopes to take over the lease and remain in the Mike Morris’s Prince George office on 10th Avenue and will also open an office in Mackenzie.
The three Prince George MLAs, all Conservatives, are all new to the job. Clare (Prince George-North Cariboo), Giddens (Prince George-Mackenzie) and Rosalyn Bird (Prince George-Valemount) are going through the protocols of what’s expected of them now that they‘ve been chosen to represent their electorate in the Legislature.
“They’re sending us things to read right now and we have MLA school coming up,” said Giddens. “There’s a bunch of (online) courses this week and we have a three-day thing in Victoria they have coming up for us.”
“November 5th is when the results are final, so I’m not technically an MLA yet. I’m an MLA-elect until November 5th.”
A date for the swearing-in ceremony has not yet been set but Giddens expects that will be on Nov. 12. He hopes to have his family there in Victoria for that.
Clare said he plans to open constituency offices in Prince George and Quesnel and will soon hire his staff.
“We’re looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting to work,” he said.
