The votes are in and NDP incumbent John Horgan will serve another four years in the B.C. legislature.
Horgan said he is pleased to have been successful and even with a Liberal majority he will continue to do his best. He had every expectation of the NDP forming the next government.
Horgan said there is no Liberal representation in the Capital Regional District and only two Liberal members on Vancouver Island.
“It means the government will have to work extra hard to understand the issues here. I’m hopeful Christy will talk to us.”
Horgan in analyzing their loss, said it seems to demonstrate that a negative campaign is a successful campaign. He said Adrian Dix stuck to the issues while the Liberals bombarded the public for 18 months on the negativity of Dix and the NDP.
“It put doubts in their (the voters) minds. It’s no excuse,” said Horgan, “we didn’t run a very good campaign. It clearly was not a winning campaign or the outcome would have been different.”
Horgan also felt that the results show an “Americanization” of British Columbia with two parties.
As for the showing by the Green Party in the seat won by Andrew Weaver from incumbent Ida Chong, Horgan said they would have to wait and see how Andrew Weaver does.
“He does demonstrate to the people that he’s relevant.”
He said the “industrial heartland” of the province rejected both the NDP and Green platforms.
“There are so many people despondent today,” he stated.
As for the polls which called for an NDP win, Horgan said the public opinion polls are not worth the paper they are printed on.
“Here on the Island the voters are pretty negative to the government and I hope they are not vindictive.”
“It’s going to be a long four years,” said Horgan on Wednesday. “I’m grateful for the support I did get. I get a real positive response in Sooke.”
He said there are a lot of people “glum today.”
Horgan topped the polls with11,272 votes (53.58 per cent), trailed by Liberal Kerrie Reay with 6,513 (30.96 per cent) and finishing with 3,253 (15.46 per cent).
The Liberals have won 50 seats, the NDP 33, Green Party one and Independent one in the province. Of the eligible voters only 52 per cent came out to cast their ballot. Liberal party leader Christy Clark did not win her seat in Vancouver-Point Grey, NDP David Eby took it with a margin of 785 votes.
It’s back in the saddle for Kerrie Reay. After her run for the Liberal seat in the Juan de Fuca riding, Reay is obviously very happy with the results.
“Getting 6,513 votes, I think we did really well, that’s 31 per cent of the votes in a tight time line,” said Reay a couple of days after the election.
Reay said she had a very small local volunteer group coming in late in the game, the showing she made was excellent.
Now, it’s back to work, although she never stopped her work as a councillor for the District of Sooke.
Would she run again? She said she likes the municipal piece and she couldn’t really speak to if she would or wouldn’t.
“I don’t like to close any doors,” she said. Reay went on to say that people should always consider their options.
As a late comer into the political arena, Reay said her knowledge of the Liberal platform (80-pages) and policies (370-pages) was lacking, but she said she would have learned them on-the-job if her run was successful.
“The skill piece is important, knowledge can always be taught,” she said.
At the all candidates meeting she said the questions posed were very specific and it was a challenge.
She was asked to run by the Liberals and she said it is always important for democracy to consider running as a candidate.
It was important, she said because the B.C. Liberals had no one running in the riding and people should be able to vote for their party.
“They should have a candidate.”
All in all she said it was win-win for her, she is not disappointed and it was a great experience.
(Green Party candidate Carlos Serra could not be reached as of press time. Look for his comments in a future issue.)