B.C. Election Results: Race too close to call as shadow of 2017 looms large

Voters failed to deliver a clear result Saturday with the NDP one seat ahead of the Conservatives and a handful of recounts possible.

Published Oct 19, 2024  •  3 minute read

Vancouver-Strathcona NDP candidate Joan Phillip reacts while surrounded by her husband and granddaughters after being declared the winner at NDP party headquarters in Vancouver. Photo by RICHARD LAM /PNG

Uncertainty looms over B.C. as voters delivered a split decision Saturday and razor-thin margins in three ridings where recounts will likely determine whether the NDP or Conservatives will form the next government.

There is also the possibility that the balance of power will rest with two newly elected Green party MLAs.

The scenario has echoes of the historic 2017 election, when the B.C. Liberals under Christy Clark won two more seats than the NDP but had government ripped away from them by the Greens.

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As of late Saturday night, the NDP had been elected or were leading in 46 ridings, the Conservatives were holding 45, and the Greens had elected two MLAs even as their leader Sonia Furstenau fell to defeat in Victoria-Beacon Hill.

With 93 seats in the B.C. legislature, 47 seats are required for a majority government.

None of the record 40 independents were elected, but many could serve as spoilers in several ridings such as Vernon-Lumby where the NDP were narrowly ahead and Independent Kevin Acton had over 15 per cent of the vote.

The results could change in the coming days with the ridings of Juan de Fuca-Malahat, Surrey City Centre and Surrey-Guildford too close to call and possibly subject to automatic recounts. The margin between NDP and Conservative candidates in those ridings is less than a percentage point.

Furstenau expressed disappointment with her defeat but also optimism that her colleagues Jeremy Valeriote of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and Rob Botterell of Saanich North and the Islands could play a pivotal role in the legislature.

“This is a passing of the torch, and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way I can,” she said, while remembering her own role in the 2017 negotiations that saw the Greens partner with the NDP because she couldn’t stomach working with the B.C. Liberals.

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Voters are still left to wonder who will be charged with addressing their concerns around affordability, health care and public safety at the end of an election season characterized more by negative campaigning than policy commitments.

Conservative party president Aisha Estey said before results came in that the sheer fact the election was so close is a credit to the work the party has done over the last year-and-a-half, given it received only two per cent of the vote in 2020.

“Regardless of what the result is tonight, we’re so proud,” she said, explaining that she joined the party two years ago because she felt neither the NDP, B.C. Liberals or Greens represented her.

“I felt like I had no voice in this province. I felt like we had left behind a conservative base, and that there were so many glaring issues that nobody was speaking to.”

Voters who headed to the polls in Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island contended with an atmospheric river on Saturday that flooded homes and swept away cars.

Elections B.C. say the inclement weather dampened turnout in some ridings, but overall just under 60 per cent of British Columbians came out to cast a ballot. About one million of those ballots, representing around 28 per cent of registered voters, were cast in advance polls.

Read more of our B.C. election coverage in these municipalities:

• Vancouver
• Surrey
• Burnaby
• Richmond and Delta
• Langley
• North Vancouver and West Vancouver
• Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and New Westminster
• Maple Ridge and Port Moody
• Abbotsford and Chilliwack
• Okanagan and around B.C.
• Vancouver Island

RACE FOR B.C.: Follow our coverage of the 2024 B.C. election campaign HERE. Not yet a subscriber? Please click HERE for a special subscription offer.

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