Clark Says She Will Lead the BC Government.
Prince George, B.C. – One thing is clear, B.C. will have a minority government, and Christy Clark is confident she will be at the helm.
After midnight, the Liberals had been elected or were leading in 43 ridings, the NDP were elected or leading in 41. The Greens had picked up three seats. A Party needs 44 seats to form a majority.
“It is my intention to continue to lead British Columbia’s government” Clark told supporters at the Liberal headquarters, but said voters have given government the opportunity to do things differently “to open a whole dialogue in our Province, in our legislature, a dialogue about how we do things, what we should do, how we want to shape the future of our province so tonight is the beginning of something very different.”
Christy Clark addressed her supporters at the Liberal Headquarters in Vancouver by recognizing the uncertain results “Something’s only happen in British Columbia”.
There is certain to be a judicial recount in at least one riding where there were just nine votes between the declared winner ( NDP) and the Liberal candidate. The final results may not be known for at least another two weeks when the absentee ballots are counted and the judicial recounts have been completed.
The Liberals won the popular vote, but fell short of the necessary ridings “With absentee ballots still to be counted, I am confident they will strengthen our margin of victory. So it is my intention to continue to lead British Columbia’s government” She said the message from British Columbian voters was clear “They did tell us, they want us to do things differently, they want us to work together, they want us to work across party lines and they want us to find a way to get along so we can all can work for the Province that all of us love so very, very much.”
She said voters have reminded the Liberals to be humble, “our job is to lead, but that we need to remember who we serve, and that we need to focus on things that matter to ordinary British Columbians.”
She thanked both John Horgan and Andrew Weaver for running strong campaigns and for being passionate about the things in which they believe.
In his address, NDP leader John Horgan thanked his campaign team, candidates and supporters but didn’t concede to the Liberals “British Columbians have waited 16 years for a government that works for them, and you’re going to have to wait a little longer until all the votes are counted and the final results are known.” Horgan said this election “will go down in history as being one that will transform us.”
Green Leader Andrew Weaver says he expects to work with “anyone” but does expect one of the first bills to come into the legislature will ban big money from political parties. He said negotiations are already underway.
Clark says at a time when B.C. is facing U.S. protectionism the time has come to work together “In the face of rising protectionism in the United States, economic uncertainty around the world, now more than ever, B.C. needs strong leadership.” She said the province needs to be united “and cannot be distracted by partisanship , we cannot be divided.”
Comments
People been telling her for a long time but she ignored them all and plowed straight ahead. She was power hungry and only a election would stop her. She probably won’t last long.. The people have spoken.. This is very similar to when Jack Layton ran in the Federal elections
I don’t think all the voters got out to vote, really. A minority government will have a hard time getting things done their way. Perhaps a non confidence vote is next! I think the people are basically fed up with her, but they went with the devil they know as opposed to the one they don’t.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. I guess it just depends who Mr. Weaver gets along with best. He has mentioned before that he and Horgan don’t really get along. Politics, the animal we love to hate. LOL
I’m hoping it stays a minority gov. and that the MLA’s actually have to sit in the legislature and debate . Not happy with all that the lib’s have done in 16 years but didn’t want a NDP gov. either .
A new trend.. students voting. They where told they can make a difference.
If I was Horgan I’d be worried about my 40 MLAs. Any one of them could decide to become a Queen maker just by crossing the floor and ensuring themselves at the very least a nice plumb for their riding and as much as a Cabinet post.
Sure, there’d be howling and you’d get the usual – I did what was best for my riding and having a minister blah blah blah.
So Weaver isn’t the only one holding a lot of power here. Basically any nominal NDP MLA has just as much pull as Weaver.
I suspect Courtenay will go to the Liberals. The absentee ballots tend to favor whoever has the most committed support base – which I think is the Liberals. So if someone is going to jump ship, they need to jump before that result is known.
Pretty hard to dispute any of what you have stated ski51! Now we wait and see!
Much like our past Federal election, I had hoped that the incumbent government would pull out a win, albeit one that came with a real fear of losing the election. This scenario tends to humble the government, taking them down off of their high horse a bit, moving them a bit more to the centre of the political spectrum and making them more responsive to more points of view. That didn’t happen federally, instead we ended up with an incompetent fool as Prime Minister. Time will tell how things work out provincially!
personally, I predict that Clark’s members will cross the floor..
Technically, what you say about a New Democrat switching allegiance could be true, although your scenario could apply equally well to a Liberal switching to the NDP, or even a Green or two making a switch to the NDP. The only reason Clarke has the edge is because she has one seat more than the NDP, for the moment. We are just going to have to wait a couple of weeks to see how this pans out and, perhaps more importantly, discover who the Greens are going to support. No more sitting on the fence for them.
2 seats more than the NDP
All 3 Greens are needed to cross the floor to the NDP
Horgan sounds like Clinton after the American election.
I think that this election clearly showed a divide between the urban Vancouverites and the rest of the Province.
Considering that the bulk of the wealth in this province is generated outside of the lower mainland, this could prove interesting!
In two weeks, we should know whose going to be governing.
A wide majority of British Columbians voted for a different government. Maybe that is what we will get.
So if you voted for the Green Party you now are happy that you voted for a NDP MLA? Or you voted NDP and now your MLA is a Green? There is always turmoil in the voting public whenever anyone crosses the floor. Some people vote on party lines and not for a certain individual, a lot of Green voters would not be happy if they were all of the sudden an NDP voter, same goes for all parties.
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