High-profile B.C. NDP members re-elected as race remains too close to call

A sample voter card being used to demonstrate the voting process as it's inserted into a new electronic tabulator that people can expect to see in most voting areas during this year's provincial election during a press conference at the Elections BC office in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Housing, health care, public safety, climate change and the toxic drug crisis were some of the major concerns for voters in B.C. Saturday. While it remains to be seen which party voters will decide is best poised to address these issues, David Eby and a majority of his former cabinet members have been re-elected.

Eby won his Vancouver-Point Grey, the CTV News decision desk declared, also calling races for 15 NDP candidates who were ministers before the writ dropped.

Ravi Kahlon won his seat in Delta-North. Kahlon was front and centre as housing minister while the B.C. NDP rolled out rapid-fire legislation including tight Airbnb restrictions mandated density in cities and a crackdown on short-term rentals such as Airbnbs in an effort to address a persistent affordability crisis.

Adrian Dix, long-time MLA and former Health Minister took the vote in the Vancouver-Renfrew riding. Dix was one of the faces of the province's pandemic response and has had to answer for emergency room closures and other pressing problems in the province's strained health-care system.

The two cabinet members responsible for the public safety and the province's justice system – former solicitor general Mike Farnworth and former attorney general Niki Sharma – both won re-election in their respective Metro Vancouver ridings. The B.C. Conservatives made public safety a main focus of their campaign, painting the NDP as a party that is soft on crime, responsible for fostering lawlessness.

Bowinn Ma won her North Vancouver-Lonsdale riding. Ma served as emergency management minister through extreme weather events, including B.C.'s record-breaking 2023 wildfire season.

Both the Conservatives and the NDP said they will introduce involuntary treatment for people with addictions and mental health issues, framing it as a response to the toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 15,000 people in B.C. as well as a way to stop random, violent attacks on city streets.

Jennifer Whiteside, who served as the minister of addictions and mental health, won re-election in her riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam.

Five incumbent B.C. NDP candidates who served in cabinet under David Eby did lose their seats to B.C. Conservatives, including former agriculture minister Pam Alexis and former education minister Rachna Singh.