What a night.
Granted, Richmond appears to have done what most of us predicted it would — elect four Liberal MLAs to the legislature.
And, yes, polls anticipated a relatively close race in the Richmond-Queensborough riding — which it was.
Still, the fact that it was still too close to call at 11 p.m. with only a few polls outstanding, was a shocker. Moreover, those couple hundred votes either way could have swung the entire province from a Liberal minority government to a dead heat.
I was at the gathering for Liberal Jas Johal earlier in the evening, when it looked like he had it in the bag for Richmond-Queensborough. But by the time I was home pecking away at my lap top, I was contemplating calling him for some different quotes.
As we know, Johal did come through in the end. And although absentee ballots have yet to be counted, at this point Richmond has delivered yet another Liberal sweep.
But while it’s likely to be the same old, same old, in terms of wins, there are also some differences.
Richmond saw the biggest NDP increase in the province. In the Richmond-Steveston riding, NDP candidate Kelly Greene, running against Liberal incumbent John Yap narrowed the gap by 16 percentage points over 2013. That, in itself, is astonishing, but when you add her votes to those of the Green Party candidate’s, they come out with a majority at 50.2 per cent, compared to Yap’s 47.7.
I don’t want to take away from the Liberals’ win. They deserve to be congratulated, but clearly there is some discontent in the air. And that fact was not lost on Yap.
I was also at his campaign office, and while he was clearly pleased with his win, he was far from boastful. Despite a reminder of B.C.’s “strong economic growth,” he was quick to note many of his constituents are feeling the pinch of unaffordability.
“That was something we heard very loud and clear,” said Yap.
There was the same “we heard you” tone to Premier Christy Clark’s speech. The question is how this will translate into governance.
If we do indeed end up with a Liberal minority, I would agree with Clark, we have an opportunity to do politics differently.
Minority governments can be a bit like a bad marriage, full of bickering and bitter compromises, that breaks down in the end anyway. But being forced to work across the aisle could also cut against the toxic, politics of polarization that seems to be on the rise.
Call me Pollyanna with my “why can’t we all just get along” attitude, but it’s not an entirely stupid question. In fact, it’s one we’ll have to answer if the Green Party leader stands by his “non-negotiable” bid for electoral reform.
Bring on the marriage counsellor.
