3 Green MLAs potentially holding balance of power
VANCOUVER (CP) — British Columbia has its first minority government in 65 years, as the B.C. Liberals squeaked out a razor-thin victory over the NDP, with the Green party holding the balance of power for the first time in Canadian history.
The Liberals won 43 seats and the NDP 41, with the Greens making a major breakthrough by picking up three seats in Tuesday’s provincial election. The NDP won one riding by only nine votes, making a recount a certainty that will determine the difference between a minority and majority if it were to flip to the Liberals.
Liberal Leader and incumbent premier Christy Clark says she intends to lead the next government, adding the result presented an opportunity to open up a new dialogue “about how we do things, what we should do, how we want to shape the future of our province.
“Tonight is the beginning of something very different, and something that I think could be really exciting for the future of our province and our kids,” she said.
The campaign began four weeks ago with Clark and the NDP’s John Horgan locked in a tight race to be premier, and Green Leader Andrew Weaver hoping to build upon his one seat in the legislature.
The NDP focused its campaign on the seat-rich Lower Mainland. The party took several Liberal ridings in the city of Vancouver and won a handful of battleground ridings in the suburbs of Metro Vancouver, including seats in Surrey, Coquitlam and Delta.
The New Democrats also swept all four ridings in Burnaby, where the prospect of increased tanker traffic from the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion loomed large. Clark endorsed the project after the federal government’s approval, but Horgan has promised to use “every tool in the toolbox” to stop it.
Several Liberal cabinet ministers lost seats in Metro Vancouver, including Attorney General Suzanne Anton, Technology Minister Amrik Virk and Peter Fassbender, the minister responsible for TransLink.
The party did well in rural and Interior B.C., where their pro-resource job message appeared to resonate. The Liberals won a new riding in Skeena, where Liberal candidate Ellis Ross is a former Haisla First Nation chief who supports liquefied natural gas development.
Andrew Wilkinson, advanced education minister in Clark’s government, said B.C. may not get definitive results until the end of the month, when he said absentee ballots and judicial recounts must be completed.
“It could be some time before this is completely clear.”
The Liberals were trying to win a fifth successive majority government after holding power for 16 years.
There were plenty of smiles and laughter early on at Liberal headquarters as the party took an early lead, but the mood became more tense as the evening progressed and the NDP began to catch up.
Inside the Green headquarters in Victoria, the room was filled with loud applause and cheering. At the outset of the campaign, Weaver made it his mission to expand his party’s presence in the legislature, saying that if he was the only Green elected, he wouldn’t run again. Christin Geall, who ran for the Greens in 2001, said she was “ecstatic.”
“This is truly historic. I never believed it was possible even though I’d hoped.”
Clark’s campaign strategy marked a return to the Liberals’ winning approach in 2013, when she promoted her party as the only one that could create and protect jobs while portraying the NDP as disastrous managers of the economy.
While Clark’s promise of a booming liquefied natural gas industry has not materialized over the past four years, Clark was able to point to B.C.’s strong economy as proof of the Liberals’ financial savvy. The province has Canada’s lowest unemployment rate and has led the country in economic growth two years in a row.
Horgan sought to portray Clark as out of touch with regular British Columbians who feel the economy is not working for them, while Weaver cast the Greens as political outsiders.
The NDP platform contained bigticket promises including $10-aday childcare, freezing hydro rates for a year and eliminating tolls on two Lower Mainland bridges.
Weaver reminded voters that his party was the only one to ban corporate and union donations and his promises included electoral reform, increasing the carbon tax and investing millions in clean technology jobs.
B.C.’s campaign finance laws dominated headlines before the election began. The province allows unlimited corporate and union donations and the RCMP is investigating fundraising by the province’s political parties.
After months of pressure, the Liberals committed to convening a panel to review political fundraising. The NDP and Greens have promised an outright ban on corporate and union donations.