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.”