Liberals win election in Canada’s British Columbia, lose majority

UPDATE, 11:30 pm: BC’s provincial election is coming down to the wire.

Weaver spoke briefly with Liberal Leader Christy Clark and NDP Leader John Horgan, but he said it was too early to make any decisions about forming coalitions or informal working agreements with the other parties. Horgan also wants Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd to find a new site for a proposed $27-billion LNG export terminal.

The political landscape in British Columbia has been plagued by polarized politics for as long as anyone can remember.

Premier Christy Clark, 51, seeks a third term to extend the rule of her Liberal Party, in power since 2001.

Political fundraising was a thorny campaign issue in the province The New York Times has called the “Wild West of Canadian political cash” because of “unabashedly cozy relationships between private interests and government officials”. As she left the polling station, Clark stopped to say hello to a young girl.

In Chilliwack, Highroad Academy, for example, picked BC Liberal John Martin with 57.5 per cent of the votes, while inner city Central elementary picked the NDP’s Tracey O’Hara with 43.2 per cent followed by 38.6 per cent for the Green’s Wayne Froese. The Green Party is against the pipeline expansion.

Green Party leader Andrew Weaver easily won his seat again in Oak Bay-Gordon Head but unlike previous sessions of the legislature, he won’t be the sole MLA for the party.

The former Olympian and Delta parks commissioner unseated Liberal incumbent Scott Hamilton, who was first elected to the legislature in 2013. She has pledged to ban the shipment of thermal coal from the province’s Pacific Coast if re-elected. That was the fastest pace in a decade – fueled by a 17% jump in residential home construction.

“The people of Kelowna understand the premier has a big job to represent everyone from Cranbrook to Fort Nelson to Prince Rupert to Victoria, but my credo has always been to keep the interests of Kelowna in the forefront of my mind all the time”.

Also, most of the Punjabis are contesting each other. He is not seen as a threat to the Liberal status quo as he is in agreement with many of their policies.

Almost two hours after polls closed Tuesday evening, Surrey’s nine provincialridings made it look like a divided city.

“I was hoping I would have done a little better”, he said in a phone interview on election night as the last few ballot boxes were being tallied. Buildingaffordablerental housing is included in the BC NDP platform.

It appears that B.C. will have a minority government for the first time in 65 years (1952).

In a short speech Horgan reiterated the B.C. NDP’s campaign promises to build a new hospital in Surrey, to alleviate patient wait times, and to build new schools in the province to address classroom overcrowding. “Investors in Canadian energy equities should be watching, and appropriately positioning portfolios”.

Clark ran and lost in Vancouver Point Grey in the 2013 election and only ran in the Okanagan in a bye-election.

“That is reflected in turnout numbers on election day”. The party commanding a majority forms the government and its leader becomes premier. However, they have announced intentions to hike income taxes on those earning $108,460 per year by one per cent in the current fiscal year, increasing to that figure to 3 per cent by 2020. Horgan was asked why the NDP have not been able to take advantage of the widespread criticism of the B.C. Liberal government and pull ahead.