All but three cabinet ministers in the last BC NDP government are projected to win re-election in Saturday’s B.C. election.
The question now is whether they’ll get the chance to return to their portfolios, as the NDP remain in a nail-biting contest with the BC Conservatives.
The former ministers projected to lose their seats to Conservatives are ex-education and child care minister Rachna Singh in Surrey North, ex-agriculture minister Pam Alexis in Abbotsford-Mission, and Bulkley-Valley-Stikine incumbent Nathan Cullen, who served as minister of land, water and resource stewardship.
Cullen was a longtime federal MP in the area before he was drafted into provincial politics as a star candidate in 2020.
The rest of BC NDP Leader David Eby’s last cabinet was re-elected, many of them by wide margins in safe NDP seats.
Niki Sharma, who served as attorney general in the last government, was the first NDP candidate of the night projected to win her riding by Global News after sweeping the race in Vancouver-Hastings.
In one of the most-watched races of the election, ex-children and family development minister Grace Lore defended her Victoria-Beacon Hill riding from a challenge by BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.
Longtime fixtures of past NDP governments Mike Farnworth and Adrian Dix handedly won their Metro Vancouver ridings, as did past ministers Bowinn Ma, George Chow, Ravi Kahlon, Jennifer Whiteside, Brenda Bailey, Anne Kang and Lisa Beare.
Another onetime NDP MP, Sheila Malcolmson, who previously served as minister of social development and poverty reduction, won re-election in her new riding of Nanaimo-Gabriola Island.
Former tourism minister Lana Popham and energy minister Josie Osborne won their respective ridings of Saanich South and Mid Island-Pacific Rim.