Another election has come and gone. The signs are taken down and put away. The final count will begin in a few days.
The numbers are clear: In Columbia-River Revelstoke, we are a riding divided. In BC, we are a province polarized. Take a look at an electoral map of BC, and you’ll see what I mean.
And while the campaigning is finally over, now the real work begins.
At the risk of my dad and I likely writing about the same thing today, I hope we don’t put you to sleep. We likely have similar opinions, but somewhat different perspectives, if that makes any sense.
I’ve been around an election or two in my lifetime, and I think what sticks out to me at this moment is where we are after the election.
This was one of the most interesting provincial elections we’ve had in a while. The last-minute withdrawal of the BC United Party was unprecedented, as far as I can tell, sending shockwaves through the electorate. For the BC Conservatives, it was the right move, albeit at the eleventh hour.
It was a Cinderella story for the BC Conservatives, a party that barely existed a mere two years ago, coming in with nearly as many seats as the governing party. (At press time, the NDP is currently ahead by only one seat!)
More than a million people voted in the advance polls, a new record for British Columbians. But what’s more interesting is that it was a record for all voters, with more than 2 million voters turning out, making it the most ballots ever to have been cast in a BC election. Well done!
Absent from the media today is Kevin Falcon, the Leader of the recently departed BC United Party, who the BC Conservatives have largely to thank.
He was able to recognize that if his party remained in the race, it would split the centre-right vote and likely deliver a majority to the NDP. (A strategy that the NDP and the Green Party might want to consider next time.)
How many ridings went Conservative because the Green took votes away from the NDP? I’ll go out on a limb here and say there are probably quite a few. Our own riding is probably one of them, where the victory was declared with approximately a 714-vote difference. Had the Green Party not run a candidate here (who garnered 1393 votes), our riding may well have gone NDP.
Kevin Falcon wrote in his letter to his constituents and party members, “While this decision wasn’t easy, I know that I’m doing the best thing for B.C.”
Things are not yet cast in stone. It will be interesting to see how things unfold over the next few days when the results from the final count are tallied, with at least one riding only 20 votes apart.
Maybe this fairytale isn’t over quite yet.
