No clear winner in B.C. election, with NDP and Conservatives locked in tight battle

By Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press on October 19, 2024.

VANCOUVER – Predictions of a nail-biting election were holding true in British Columbia on Saturday, with returns showing the New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives locked in a virtual dead heat.

With the two main parties each straining to reach a majority, Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.

The Greens will retain two seats, with Rob Botterell victorious in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote winning in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.

None of the 40 or so Independent candidates were victorious, raising the prospect of a minority government with the Greens holding the balance of power.

Furstenau lost to the NDP’s Grace Lore after switching ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill, but said she was “so excited” for her two colleagues, calling their wins “incredible.”

“This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can,” she told her supporters in Victoria.

Two hours after polls closed, neither David Eby’s NDP nor the Conservatives led by John Rustad had the 47 ridings needed to form a majority government in the 93-seat legislature.

Regardless of the outcome, it was a moment to relish for the Conservatives, as they achieved their first elected presence in the legislature in decades.

“Whether it’s government tonight or official opposition, we’re not going anywhere,” said B.C. Conservatives’ president Aisha Estey.

“There’s a Conservative Party in B.C. now, finally,” she said in Vancouver, calling the party’s rise “the ultimate underdog story.”

Voters had faced a choice for the next government that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, between the incumbent NDP and Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election.

The B.C. Conservatives set to enter the legislature include Brent Chapman in Surrey South, who had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post that called Palestinian children “inbred” and “time bombs.”

Both Eby and Rustad retained their ridings.

It was a rain-drenched election day in much of the province.

Voters braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system that forced closures of several polling stations due to power outages.

Most results came in quickly, as promised by Elections BC, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time.

The election authority expected the count would be “substantially complete” by 9 p.m., one hour after the close of polls. But nine ridings were too close to call hours after the polls had closed.

Fewer than a hundred votes separated some of the races, raising the possibility of automatic recounts, which must take place in ridings where the margin is less than one-thousandth of all votes cast.

There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.

The wild weather on election day was appropriate for such a tumultuous campaign.

Once considered a fringe player in provincial politics, the B.C. Conservatives stand on the brink of forming government or becoming the official Opposition.

Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United – all in just two years.

Rustad shared a photo on social media Saturday showing himself smiling and walking with his wife at a voting station, with a message saying, “This is the first time Kim and I have voted for the Conservative Party of BC!”

Eby, who voted earlier in the week, posted a message on social media Saturday telling voters to “grab an umbrella and stay safe.”

Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.

A group of former BC United MLAs running as Independents were all defeated, with Karin Kirkpatrick, Dan Davies, Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka losing to Conservatives.

– With files from Brenna Owen, Dirk Meissner, Brieanna Charlebois, Ashley Joannou and Darryl Greer

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

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