B.C. NDP wins historic majority government
VICTORIA, B.C. — Premier John Horgan’s gamble to call a snap election during the COVID-19 pandemic paid off in an extraordinary fashion Saturday, as British Columbian voters returned his New Democratic Party to office with a large majority and four years of unfettered control over the government.
The B.C. NDP increased its 41-seat minority into a 55-seat majority, according to preliminary results Saturday night, which did not include more than 500,000 mail-in ballots.
“B.C. has voted, and a majority has been called, but there are many, many hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be counted,” Horgan said at a victory rally in Vancouver.
“While we wait for that final count to happen, I want to assure people that I’m going to keep the focus right where it belongs, on helping people get through this pandemic and making sure that they have the services that they need. All British Columbians can sleep safely knowing that we’re going to do everything we can to keep them safe, healthy and secure.”
It is the largest NDP victory in B.C. history.
Metro Vancouver voters surged to support the NDP, with an orange wave that held or picked up battleground ridings in North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Maple Ridge, Surrey and Coquitlam.
The NDP was able to win long-held Liberal ridings, such as North Vancouver-Seymour (where Liberal candidate Jane Thornthwaite was widely criticized for sexist comments during the campaign) and Surrey-Cloverdale.
The NDP was also leading in Vancouver-False Creek on Saturday night, potentially throwing out the Liberal incumbent and former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan.
The NDP had a particularly strong show in the three Richmond ridings, leading in Richmond-South Centre and Richmond-Steveston on Saturday night while defeating incumbent Jas Johal in Richmond-Queensborough. Johal’s loss is notable because it removed a potential future Liberal leadership candidate from the legislature.
New Democrats pushed the B.C. Liberals out of much of Metro Vancouver, going so far as to shake Liberal strongholds in the Fraser Valley in which the NDP have never won, including two ridings each in Langley and Chilliwack. Longtime Liberal incumbent Mary Polak fell to defeat to the NDP’s Andrew Mercier in Langley.
Some riding results are likely too early to call and could change because more than 500,000 mail-in ballots — representing more than one-third of the electorate — won’t begin to be counted until Nov. 6.
However, the NDP victory was large enough that any such changes won’t alter the overall NDP victory.
The NDP majority means Horgan now no longer needs to cooperate with the B.C. Greens to enact his agenda.
But voters rejected Horgan’s call to completely eliminate the Greens from the legislature, instead re-electing Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen on Vancouver Island, and stunning the Liberals by electing a Green candidate in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
Furstenau said the NDP might have won a majority, but voters trust her party on the environment and a clean vision for the province’s future.
“While they may have their majority, British Columbians have returned Green MLAs to hold government accountable,” she said during an election-night speech in Victoria.