The B.C. Election has produced the first minority government in 65 years.
Christy Clark and the BC Liberals won 43 seats in the legislature, the NDP won 41, and the Greens picked up 3. In order to form a majority government in B.C.'s 87 seat legislature, a party needs 44 seats, and the Liberals came up 1 short.
According to UVic Professor Emeritus of Law and Political Science Ron Cheffins, Clark - as the Premier going into this election - will have the first chance to form a government when the legislature sits again. That would depend on some sort of agreement with the B.C. Green Party and leader Andrew Weaver. Clark told her supporters in her election night speech that she intends to lead the next government. If the Liberals can't work out a deal, it's likely they would fail their first confidence vote in the legislature, resulting in the Lieutenant Governor either calling an election or offering the NDP and the Greens a chance to form government.
The election result for Southern Vancouver Island was just as dramatic. Green Party Leader Weaver was re-elected in Oak-Bay Gordon Head, but their breakthrough came with Adam Olsen unseating an incumbent NDP MLA in Saanich North and the Islands, and Sonia Furstenau being elected in Cowichan Valley.
In Esquimalt-Metchosin, Mitzi Dean managed to hold the riding for the NDP, defeating Esquimalt mayor and Liberal candidate Barb Desjardins.
Further up island, the only Liberal winner was Parksville-Qualicum incumbent Michelle Stilwell. Apart from that and the three Green wins, the rest of the Island went orange. There will likely be a recount in Courtenay-Comox where the NDP's Ronna-Rae Leonard defated Liberal Jim Benninger by only nine votes.
