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B.C. Premier Christy Clark defied poll predictions and led the BC Liberals to victory Tuesday night, but she failed to keep her own seat.
The incumbent Liberals won a decisive majority throughout the province -- the Liberals' fourth consecutive win and Clark's first as leader.
The victory came as a shock to many, as the Liberals were elected in 50 of B.C.’s 85 ridings, despite polls that suggested New Democrats held a steady nine-point lead on the eve of election day.
In the end, NDP candidates only secured 33 seats. Forty-three seats are required to form a majority government.
But in an interesting twist, Clark herself was defeated in her riding of Vancouver-Point Grey by NDP candidate David Eby. Eby won by 785 votes.
If the results stand, the Liberals could be forced to ask one of the party’s victorious MLAs to hand his or her spot over to the Premier.
Even as the votes were being tallied late Tuesday, a no-less-triumphant Clark took the stage at Liberal campaign headquarters to cheers and chants of “four more years.”
“Two years ago I came back into public life because I wanted to rebuild public trust in government,” Clark said in her victory speech. “British Columbians will always know what I stand for. In a democracy, this is what people want and it’s what people deserve.”
Clark called the 28-day campaign the hardest undertaking of her life, and offered praise to all her rival party leaders.
She then reiterated the Liberals’ commitment to cash in on the province’s liquefied natural gas industry and eventually decrease its $56-billion debt.
”Our work has just begun," Clark said. “With this strong new team, with a renewed party, a renewed mandate, and the confidence of British Columbians to build this economy, to make sure we live in the province we all dreamed of for our children and to make sure our children inherit a future we always dreamed for them. Thank you very much.”
"Never a dull moment in B.C. politics," Dix says
Not long before, New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix, once considered a near shoo-in for premier, gave his concession speech.
Dix maintained his seat in Vancouver-Kingsway, but his party still disappointed supporters who had high hopes they would uproot the Liberal government and deliver an NDP victory for the first time in 12 years.
“Never a dull moment in B.C. politics,” Dix quipped as he took the stage to deliver his concession speech.
Dix congratulated his fellow NDP candidates, and promised supporters to continue fighting for his party’s values of financial equality and environmental sustainability.
"If there's one disappointment I have in this election – other than the obvious – it's that we haven't managed to address issues of participation in our democracy yet," he added, alluding to yet-another low voter turnout.
Just over half of eligible voters casting their ballots Tuesday, continuing a trend that has plagued British Columbia for every election in recent memory.
That number was slightly higher on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast with approximately 56 per cent turning out to vote.
Dix ran a largely positive campaign in the face of ongoing Liberal attack ads on TV and the Internet, but went into Tuesday’s election confidently touting that there were no “safe” seats for the governing party.
“We’re going to continue to be generous to everyone in our society, including our political opponents. I’ve always believed that’s the only way through," Dix said.
Conservatives shut out of election; Greens take historic first seat
The BC Conservatives, who were at one point last year tied with the Liberals in the polls, failed to gain a single seat. That included party leader John Cummins, who couldn't manage to snatch a spot away from incumbent Liberal Mary Polak in Langley.
Cummins and his party suffered several blows during the 2013 campaign, beginning with a series of scandals that forced the removal of four candidates, and continued with Cummins’ lackluster performance in the televised leaders’ debate.
He conceded the race and thanked the thousands of Conservative supporters who turned out to the polls Tuesday.
“I want to assure them that we will continue to fight for smarter spending, lower taxes and a better life for British Columbians,” Cummins said. “Whether or not we win a seat tonight it doesn’t matter, we will continue to organize and by 2017 we will be a much stronger party.”
Green Party Leader Jane Sterk suffered a similar fate in Victoria-Beacon Hill, losing to incumbent MLA and former NDP head Carole James. She previously stated she would step down as party leader if not elected.
But her party still made history as candidate Andrew Weaver was declared the Greens’ first-ever B.C. MLA.
Weaver beat out Liberal incumbent Ida Chong, Minister of Aboriginal Relations, in the Vancouver Island riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head.
“We didn’t split the vote, we are the vote,” Weaver told a cheering crowd, addressing pre-election fears that his campaign would merely tip the scales toward either the Liberals or NDP.
“What an incredible six months this has been for someone like me, taken way outside my comfort zone in the lab at the University of Victoria.”
A noted expert on climate change, Weaver secured his party’s nomination in September 2012 and became its deputy leader shortly after.
In its almost 30 years as a political organization, the Green Party has never held a seat in the B.C. legislature until now, but has seen support steadily increase as climate change and the environment have risen to the forefront of voters’ concerns.
Vicki Huntington also made history becoming the first independent to be re-elected in the province. She will return to Victoria as the only Independent MLA, beating out Delta-South Liberal opponent Bruce McDonald by 2,505 votes.
