Tables Turned – In a shocking upset, the BC Liberal Party defied the odds and the advanced polls and won a majority government. They won 50 seats, the BC NDP took 33, and the Green Party of BC won one seat in a historic win on Vancouver Island. The BC Conservative Party did not win one seat in this election. Vicki Huntington was the only Independent elected in Delta South.
People react – While pollsters and pundits were surprised at the results of tonight’s election, it seems the citizens of B.C. were just as surprised. Many took to social media to express their shock at what had happened, with some blaming the poor voter turnout.
Leaders’ results – While NDP leader Adrian Dix won his riding of Vancouver-Kingsway, Liberal leader Christy Clark did not win her riding against David Eby. It was a very close race, with only a small number of votes separating the outcome, but Eby pulled ahead to take Clark’s seat.
Close races – In some ridings it really came down to the wire for the candidates. In Burnaby-Lougheed, NDP’s Jane Shin won by just 523 votes. In Coquitlam-Maillardville, Liberal Steve Kim won by just 105 votes. There was hope for a Green seat in Saanich North and the Islands, but the seat went to NDP’s Gary Holman who won with just 52 votes.
Historic win – Green party candidate Andrew Weaver became the first ever Green MLA in the BC Legislature, when he won his riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head. Weaver won by 2,318 votes.
How did the Liberals win? – When the advance polls continued to show an NDP lead, and Clark had once been declared by one opinion survey as among the two worst premiers in the country, how did the Liberals pull off such a win? According to Doug McArthur, public policy professor at SFU, it all came down to Clark’s campaign. “The lesson learned is that this was won in the campaign,” McArthur said. “It was a focused campaign, they knew what they wanted to do, it was hard hitting, it was tough, but they drove the message to undermine Adrian Dix and the NDP.”
What’s next for the NDP? – Adrian Dix said the people of B.C. have elected a strong team that will hold the government accountable. Global BC Legislative Bureau Chief Keith Baldrey said it will be interesting to see if the NDP’s positive attitude will continue now that the election results are not the ones they hoped for.
Adrian Dix’s concession speech – In a speech to his supporters, Dix said “elections belong to the voters, and the voters decided.” He said the party needs to contine “to be who we are.” And said if the NDP does not lose this path, they will form a government in the future.
Christy Clark’s acceptance speech – Clark ruffled some feathers on social media when she started her speech with “well that was easy.” She spoke in front of hundreds of cheering supporters and thanked candidates, voters, volunteers, fellow party leaders and British Columbians. She ended her speech by saying she will live up to the responsibility voters have placed in her and the BC Liberals.
Voter turnout – It may have been a surprising win for the BC Liberals, but voter turnout in B.C. was among the lowest ever. As of 12:18 Wednesday — with 11,285 or 11,31 polls reporting — only about 52 per cent of eligible voters had cast a ballot. There were approximately 1.62 million out of 3.15 million eligible voters that went to the polls this year.
We have full results and real-time analysis on our Decision BC page.
For a map of the ridings, check out our results page.
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