Yamamoto, Ma jockey for win in a nail-biter

There are some geographic areas one political party or another can bank on for easy seats.

One of those areas is the North Shore of Metro Vancouver, where North Vancouver-Lonsdale, North Vancouver-Seymour, West Vancouver-Capilano and West Vancouver-Sea to Sky have formed a Liberal stronghold for about two decades.

Soon after the results started to come in late Tuesday, it was clear at least three of the four North Shore ridings would remain Liberal. But one was still in play late and had the potential to be a major upset.

The lone uncertain turf was in Lonsdale, where Naomi Yamamoto and a few dozen supporters had met at a local brewery to watch the election coverage.

Yamamoto was the incumbent in the riding and had won it twice before. She had served as the minister of state for emergency preparedness last term and has held three other cabinet posts since she was first elected in 2009.

But she had won the riding by just 1,200 votes in 2013, and since that time the riding’s boundaries changed. Those were elements that made this riding a question mark in the lead-up to election night.

They also had the NDP gunning for the riding this time around.

Yamamoto’s chief competitor was Bowinn Ma, who was running for the first time and had decided to watch the results in private, according to her campaign office.

It is a riding the party needed to win and one that NDP Leader John Horgan had visited last week in the hopes it could be snagged away. Signs with the leader’s name were dotted around the riding come election day, pointing to its importance.

By late Tuesday, Ma was holding down the lead.

North Vancouver-Seymour went again to Jane Ann Thornthwaite, a two term Liberal incumbent. It was a riding that had gone Liberal for years, so no great surprise here that Thornthwaite took it again. But NDP had gained a lot of ground in the riding last election.

West Vancouver-Capilano was among the first ridings to be called and it again went to Ralph Sultan. The incumbent had won four times before, and he has twice headed government ministries. This is an affluent riding that has gone Liberal ever since it was first formed.

In West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, Jordan Sturdy took the win. The Liberal incumbent had previously served three terms as mayor of Pemberton.