PRINCE GEORGE – The campaign office for the Northern BC Conservatives is coming down sign-by-sign. There is no question it was a blue wave in the three Prince George ridings.
Kiel Giddens in Prince George-Mackenzie garnered 61.1 per cent of the vote. That was followed with 28 per cent from NDP candidate Shar McCrory.
In Prince George-Valemount, BC Conservative Rosalyn Bird won with 55.4 per cent of the vote, NDP candidate Clay Pountney with 34.7 per cent.
In Prince George-North Cariboo, Conservative Sheldon Clare took 57.1 per cent of the vote, ahead of Independent Coralee Oakes at 21.8 per cent.
“When we were doing our voter identification, which involved extensive door-knocking, which we’ve been doing really since December and heavily since probably March or April, what we were getting is that approximately six out of ten people at the doors in both Quesnel and in Prince George and other areas we were door-knocking, they were saying they were going to vote for me,” says Sheldon Clare, MLA-Elect for Prince George-North Cariboo.
As things stand right now, Clare and the two other new Conservative MLAs-Elect are heading to Victoria as part of a minority government. Based on the sheer numbers, none of the local ridings will be subject to a recount. But there are still 49,000 mail-in ballots to be counted and that may tip the scales.
“If the Conservatives form government and some of our local MLAs make it into Cabinet, that’s great,” says Chris Beach, Political Science Instructor for CNC. “That’s great for Prince George. On the other hand, the silver lining might be they’re all new MLAs. Getting to learn the ropes in opposition for a few more years isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
Whenever the BC Legislature resumes sitting, it will look nothing like the past four years. And Beach says it is always good to have fresh faces around the table.
“When you have people that have been there a long time, it doesn’t matter how open-minded they are. They’re used to certain ways of doing things, they’ve got their biases like anybody else.”
Regardless of what happens in a week’s time with recounts and new counts, Clare says a message needs to be made.
“The people have spoken and they are not happy with what’s going on. That’s clear. Regardless of who ends up forming government in a week, when we hear the final count, the people have spoken and they’re not happy. And I think that’s the case on both sides of the spectrum.”
And while the constituency office is coming down, there are still a lot of unknowns and a lot of work to be done before anyone graces the halls of the Legislature.
