Island still NDP stronghold

The Island’s political map remains solidly orange after Saturday’s provincial election, with preliminary results showing the NDP had won 11 of 15 seats.

The Conservatives appeared set to win at least one seat in North Island.

In Courtenay-Comox and Juan de Fuca-Malahat, just a few hundred votes separated the Conservative and New Democrat candidates.

Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who ran previously in Cowichan Valley, lost her bid in Victoria-Beacon Hill, where incumbent NDP Grace Lore held onto her seat.

With Furstenau’s loss, the Greens will likely be reduced to one seat on the Island, in Saanich North and the Islands.

Courtenay-Comox

The Courtenay-Comox riding, home of B.C.’s tightest election race in 2017, was poised to once again be decided by a handful of votes.

Conservative Brennan Day held a narrow 250-vote lead over NDP incumbent Ronna-Rae Leonard at press time.

Day had 39.04 per cent of the vote, while Leonard had 38.35 per cent.

Arzeena Hamir, the Green candidate, came third with about 21 per cent and Independent candidates John Hedican and Devin Howell managed 1.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Cowichan Valley

Cowichan Valley is no longer Green.

New Democrat Debra Toporowski, a Cowichan Tribes and North Cowichan councillor, took the riding, formerly the seat of Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who ran in Victoria-Beacon Hill this time around.

Toporowski had about 40 per cent of the vote at press time, beating out Conservative candidate John Koury, who managed 38 per cent, and Green candidate and farmer Cammy Lockwood, who pulled 20 per cent.

Eden Haythornthwaite, an Independent Socialist, managed just one per cent while Independent Jon Coleman pulled less than one per cent of the vote.

Esquimalt-Colwood

Redrawn boundaries created this new riding for the 2024 election, which was looking like a comfortable win for New Democrat Darlene Rotchford, an Esquimalt town councillor.

With 21 of 22 ballot boxes counted, Rotchford had 51 per cent of the vote. Rotchford, who called housing affordability her top concern, beat Conservative John Wilson and Green Camille Currie.

NDP incumbent Mitzi Dean, who represented the old Esquimalt-Metchosin riding, did not run for re-election.

Juan de Fuca-Malahat

The Conservative and NDP candidates were separated by a razor-thin margin in the newly minted riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat on Saturday night.

The NDP’s Dana Lajenuesse, a Sooke councillor, was just 28 votes ahead of Conservative rival Marina Sapozjhnikov with just the out-of-district ballots — ballots cast at voting places outside the voter’s electoral district, as well as ballots cast by assisted telephone voting and vote-by-mail ballots — left to be counted. Both were well ahead of Green candidate David Evans.

Ladysmith-Oceanside

The NDP again held the Ladysmith-Oceanside riding after Stephanie Higginson pulled about 41 per cent of the vote with most polls reporting, defeating Conservative Brett Fee (36 per cent).

Incumbent Adam Walker, the former NDP MLA who was running as an Independent, managed just 16 per cent of the vote. Green candidate Laura Ferreira had about seven per cent.

Ladysmith-Oceanside is a new electoral district, combining parts of the former Parksville-Qualicum and Nanaimo-North Cowichan ridings.

Langford-Highlands

The first MLA to represent Langford-Highlands will be the NDP’s Ravi Parmar.

Parmar, technically the incumbent having won the NDP stronghold Langford-Juan de Fuca byelection in 2023, secured the win in the region’s new riding with 51 per cent of the vote with most ballot boxes counted.

Conservative Mike Harris, who garnered 38 per cent of the vote came second, with Green candidate Erin Cassels finishing third with 11 per cent.

Mid Island-Pacific Rim

Josie Osborne will once again represent the Mid Island-Pacific Rim riding.

The former Tofino mayor, who was first elected as an NDP MLA in the riding in 2020, re-captured her seat with 49 per cent of the vote with most ballot boxes counted.

Conservative Adam Hayduk came second with 40 per cent of the vote, while the Greens Ross Reid was third with 12 per cent.

Nanaimo-Gabriola Island

New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson was poised to win the new Nanaimo-Gabriola riding. She had 52 per cent of vote with 23 of 26 ballot boxes counted.

Malcolmson, who was elected in the old Nanaimo riding in 2020, held off Conservative Dale Parker (35 per cent) and Green Shirley Lambrecht (13 per cent).

Nanaimo-Lantzville

The first MLA for the new riding of Nanaimo-Lantzville will be the NDP’s George Anderson, who looked set for a comfortable win with more than half of the vote at press time.

Anderson, a lawyer who once served on Nanaimo council, had about 51 per cent of votes cast at press time to outdistance Conservative Gwen O’Mahony — a former NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope — who had about 40 per cent.

Green candidate Lia Versaevel received about nine per cent.

North Island

North Island has been an enduring piece of NDP ground but looked poised to go Conservative. About 800 votes separated Conservative Dr. Anna Kindy (48 per cent of votes cast) and incumbent New Democrat Michele Babchuk (45 per cent) with 36 of 39 ballot boxes counted.

The Greens’ Nic Dedeluk was a distant third.

Oak Bay-Gordon Head

Oak Bay-Gordon Head was set to remain an NDP seat despite the retirement of incumbent Murray Rankin. With 26 of 28 ballot boxes counted, New Democrat Diana Gibson, who said the high cost of living was her top campaign issue, had 45 per cent of the vote. She was trailed by Green Party deputy leader Dr. Lisa Gunderson and Conservative candidate Stephen Andrew.

Saanich North and the Islands

In a tight three-way race, the Green Party looked like it would hold onto its seat in Saanich North and the Islands, with Rob Botterell, a retired lawyer and negotiator, taking 36 per cent of the vote with 27 of 28 ballot boxes counted.

Not far behind Botterell were New Democrat Sarah Riddell with 32 per cent and Conservative David Busch with 30 per cent. Independent Amy Haysom took nearly two per cent of the vote.

Adam Olsen, who won the seat for the Greens in 2020 with 52 per cent of the vote, did not run for re-election.

Saanich South

New Democrat Lana Popham looked poised to comfortably keep her seat and win a fifth term in office, with 21 of 25 ballot boxes reported. Popham, first elected in 2009, had nearly 50 per cent of the vote, beating Conservative Adam Kubel and the Green Party’s Ned Taylor.

Popham has served as minister of agriculture and minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport.

Victoria-Beacon Hill

New Democrat incumbent Grace Lore hung onto Victoria-Beacon Hill, taking a commanding lead of about 3,600 votes over her challengers.

With 22 of 23 ballot boxes counted, she had captured about 47 per cent of the vote, to Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau’s 34 per cent and Conservative Tim Thielmann’s 19 per cent.

Victoria-Swan Lake

The long-time NDP stronghold of Victoria-Swan Lake stayed true to the party with Nina Krieger cruising to a win with close to 56 per cent of the vote at press time.

Transportation Minister Rob Fleming had been the riding’s MLA since it was established in 2009.

Christina Winter of the Green Party had about 23 per cent of the vote with most ballot boxes counted on Saturday. Conservative candidate Tim Taylor had about 20 per cent and Communist candidate Robert Crooks, the party’s provincial organizer, had less than one per cent.

— With files from Jeff Bell, Andrew Duffy and Roxanne Egan-Elliott