As the BC NDP and John Horgan charged to a historic election win and a majority mandate, Âé¶čAV didnât move an inch.
Multiple BC Liberal Party strongholds turned orange after Saturday nightâs election, including parts of Richmond and the Fraser Valley, but the party is expected to retain all three of its seats in the Âé¶čAV area, according to preliminary election night results.
The numbers, despite not yet including almost a half-million mail-in ballots, are decisive enough to see where the cityâs political ideals rest, with each BC Liberal candidate taking more than 50 per cent of the vote in their respective ridings.
Incumbents Norm Letnick (Âé¶čAV-Lake Country) and Ben Stewart (Âé¶čAV West) are looking to be headed back to Victoria with provincial politics newcomer Renee Merrifield (Âé¶čAV-Mission) as part of what will be one of the smallest BC Liberal caucuses since the partyâs resurgence in the early 1990s. The Liberals are currently projected to win just 29 ridings, 12 fewer than the previous government and the fewest since the 1991 election in which the party surged to 17 seats from the zero it earned in the 1986 election.
The NDP, on the other hand, is projected to form its first majority government since 1996 with its largest-ever presence in the legislature at 55 seats.
READ MORE: Horgan celebrates projected majority NDP government, but no deadline for $1,000 deposit
READ MORE: Trudeau congratulates Horgan on NDPâs election victory in British Columbia
Regardless of the pressures theyâll face as a small opposition voice, local representatives say they wonât back down.
âThe role of opposition is to hold government to account; to be that voice that calls into question some of their actions, some of their decisions,â Merrifield said, speaking to media on her doorstep on Saturday night. âWe have some major issues coming down the pipeline.â
As far as the shift towards the NDP goes, Stewart said he never saw it coming and held on to hopes the polls were wrong throughout the election. He said the tide may have turned due to the governmentâs COVID-19 response.
âMaybe people were comfortable with what theyâve seen in the last eight months with John Horgan and the NDP and we all tried to be supportive but maybe at the end of the day people were lulled into thinking this government was capable of doing more,â said Stewart.
With a record number of mail-in votes yet to be counted, not all have accepted an NDP majority will be the case. Letnick, alongside BC Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson, has not conceded defeat on the provincial level.
âThings can change,â Letnick said. âThis is British Columbia, after all, so weâll take that little victory here (in Âé¶čAV) and celebrate and keep our fingers crossed that something will change between now and two-and-a-half weeks from now.â
Around the rest of the Okanagan, Liberal incumbents were declared winners of the Penticton and Shuswap ridings. The Boundary-Similkameen riding went to the NDP after several years under Liberal control.
In Vernon-Monashee, results were on election night, with Liberal incumbent Eric Foster holding a slim, 180 vote lead over NDP challenger Harwinder Sandhu. That riding will be decided once mail-in votes are counted next month.
Due to the pandemic, more British Columbians have decided to vote by mail-in ballot than ever before. Election results wonât be finalized until after Nov. 6. after those mail-in ballots are counted.
Across B.C., a total of 497,900 mail-in ballots were returned to Election BC, as of Friday, Oct. 23. In Âé¶čAVâs three ridings, voters requested 28,674 mail-in ballots, just under one-fifth of the total 156,553 registered voters.
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .
