Williams elected MLA

BC Conservative David Williams has been declared the next MLA for the Salmon Arm-Shuswap riding.

“I feel overwhelmed and appreciative that the people in this riding actually have that much faith in me,” Williams told Castanet after ballots were tallied on Saturday night.

“One person alone does not win,” he added. “It takes a team.”

Williams gave credit to his campaign volunteers, the local riding association, and the BC Conservative party for helping him secure his election win.

When asked what his first plan of action would be as the newly-elected MLA, he replied, “no idea.”

“I believe in promoting exactly what's on our platform, because I strongly believe in our policies,” Williams said. “I want to see economic growth. I want to see Salmon Arm be the best it could be.”

Elections BC reported Williams had earned 16,308 votes — good for 52.25 per cent of the vote.

The BC NDP's Sylvia Lindgren was the runner up. Lindgren tallied 9,439 votes, good for a 30.24 per cent share of the vote.

On election night, Lindgren said she was disappointed by the results.

“It's a hard one this year, that's for sure," she said.

Independent candidate Greg McCune, who was originally slated to represent BC United, tallied 2,886 votes, good for 9 per cent of the vote.

Jed Wiebe, who represented the BC Green Party, received 2,209 votes (7.08 per cent), followed by Independent candidate Sherry Roy with 371 votes (1.19 per cent).

As of Saturday night, the overall provincial election results appear to be extremely close, with the BC NDP taking 46 seats and the BC Conservatives taking 45 seats.

Williams said he felt the election would be close all along.

“I thought we'd be one seat either way, and it looks like I'm right,” he said.