The final results from the 2017 B.C. General Election are in: The BC Green Party holds the balance of power with neither of the two major parties able to secure the 44 seats needed to secure a majority government.
The final results of the B.C. Election were confirmed at 4.30 p.m. by Elections BC and here they are as follows:
BC Liberal Party: 43 seats
BC NDP: 41 seats
BC Green Party: 3 seats
The big news of the election is that, despite the Liberals winning the most seats, Christy Clark was unable to secure the 44 needed to secure a majority government.
The 2017 B.C. Election will go down as the closest in the history of British Columbia.
In the end, it all came down to the single riding of Courtenay-Comox, where the absentee ballots could have made the difference between a Liberal minority or majority government.
On May 9th, the NDP won Courtenay-Comox by just nine votes.
However, with Courtenay-Comox being home to a Canadian Forces Base (CFB Comox), it was considered likely that the Liberal candidate Jim Benninger could win. This is due to a number of people in the riding opting to vote via absentee ballot and because Benninger was a former base commander.
Unfortunately for the Liberals however, events didn't play out in their favour. Following the absentee ballot count, New Democrat Ronna-Rae Leonard extended her lead over Benninger to win the riding with 10,886 votes to 10,697.
So what does this mean for British Columbia’s political future?
Ultimately, how the B.C. Government governs over the next four years is now up to Andrew Weaver and the B.C. Green Party.
With three seats, Weaver could choose to go into coalition with either the NDP or the Liberals to govern British Columbia. Alternatively, he could also decide to refrain from going into coalition with neither and simply offer support to each party on a vote-by-vote basis.
However, if this scenario were to play out, Clark would first have to win a vote of no confidence in order to govern as Premier for the next four years.
Following the results, Weaver tweeted that he's "thrilled to be working for change."
BC now has incredible opportunity to do politics differently. I am thrilled to be working for change you can count on. https://t.co/PZKa32M2Ab
— Andrew Weaver (@AJWVictoriaBC) May 24, 2017
All three party leaders have since reacted to the results.
Liberal leader Christy Clark:
“I want to congratulate all candidates, from all parties, who put their names forward to run. It’s not easy, and they deserve our gratitude for working to make our province even better,” said Clark. “With 43 BC Liberal candidates elected as MLAs, and a plurality in the legislature, we have a responsibility to move forward and form a government.”
“The final result reinforces that British Columbians want us to work together, across party lines, to get things done for them. Our priority is to protect our strong economy and to manage BC’s finances responsibly, while listening closely to British Columbians on how we address important social and environmental priorities and how we can make BC politics more responsive, transparent, and accountable.
“The work is just beginning. My team and I look forward to delivering positive results for British Columbians.”
NDP leader John Horgan:
"British Columbians have voted overwhelmingly to replace Christy Clark's Liberals with a new government that works better for families," said Horgan. "They voted for better schools, shorter wait times for health services, to defend our coast and to fix our broken political system."
"The newly elected BC NDP team will be working hard every day to ensure British Columbians get a new government that works for them instead of just the wealthy and well-connected."
Green Party leader Andrew Weaver:
“The B.C. Green caucus is committed to ensuring that British Columbians will have a stable minority government,” said Weaver. “With this historic result, British Columbia can finally put the ineffective two-party system behind us."
"It has led to a divisive legislature that primarily benefits special interests. This is an incredible opportunity for B.C.’s political leaders to put partisan differences aside and work for the common good. I look forward to working with both other parties so that we can finally get big money out of politics, move towards electoral reform and implement good public policy on a wide range of issues that puts people first.”
In the meantime, it’s difficult to predict what the future will hold for the B.C. Legislature. However, what is clear is that B.C. voted for change in 2017.
KelownaNow will produce more content on the outcome and consequences of the 2017 election in the coming days.
