Frankly Speaking

Voting day is over, and the NDP almost certainly has a majority government. However, the final count may not be 55 seats for them, 29 for the Liberals and three for the Greens, as it was on election night. At least 525,000 mail-in ballots have yet to be counted, according to elections BC. The number varies from riding to riding. But in most Lower Mainland ridings, the number seems to be in the 10,000 range. The calls by multiple media outlets on Saturday night of an NDP majority government angered many voters who used the mail option. The reality is this: the margins of victory in most ridings aren't likely to change substantially, and thus far that means the NDP have a majority. But in 10 ridings or so, there is a chance of a shift. Members of the media, like most B.C. residents, have no idea how the mail-in ballots will be distributed among candidates. Any "calls" are a gamble. In at least four ridings, it is very possible for the election night leader in vote counts to...

  John Horgan is likely to lead the NDP to its biggest win ever in B.C. The party could win more than 50 seats in Saturday's election. The NDP are likely to win a substantial majority government in Saturday’s election. It looks like the party could end up with more than 50 seats. This would be the most seats the party has ever held in the B.C. Legislature, and it is likely to win seats in areas where it has never or hardly ever won before. The final results won’t be in until two weeks after the election, due to more than 700,000 mail-in ballots which are a direct result of holding an election during a pandemic, but it is still quite likely that B.C. residents will find out on Saturday that there will be an NDP majority. Residents will still be waiting for results in close ridings, which will probably number about 15. In the Lower Mainland, the NDP’s second-best stronghold after Vancouver Island, the NDP is likely to win a number of seats the BC Liberals have held since at least 199...

Frank Bucholtz photo Federal infrastructure minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced on Thursday that the federal government will commit to providing $108 million of the $235 million total cost to upgrade Highway 1 to six lanes between 216 and 264 Streets in Langley. Other funding partners are the B.C. government, represented by Premier John Horgan and Transportation Minister Claire Trevena at the ceremony, and the Township of Langley, represented by Mayor Jack Froese. At long last, the NDP government has committed to follow through with a project announced by their predecessors - at least a portion of the project. In March, 2017, the BC Liberal government announced it would widen Highway 1 from four to six lanes as far east as Whatcom Road in Abbotsford. A day afterwards, former transportation minister Todd Stone told CHNL Radio in Kamloops on that the project was “tender-ready” back then. Two years later, the province has announced the widening from 216 to 264 Streets, at...

CBC photo Premier John Horgan celebrates with new Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson, who won the Wednesday byelection with almost 50 percent of the vote. There are a few significant lessons to be pondered from the results of Wednesday’s byelection in Nanaimo. First and foremost - the NDP government is here to stay, likely for at least another year. Winning NDP candidate Sheila Malcolmson won almost 50 per cent of the vote, with final figures from the counting on Wednesday giving her 10,538 votes. Liberal candidate Tony Harris has 40.5 per cent of the vote, with 8,665. The most surprising and significant vote totals were posted by Michele Ney of the Green Party. She comes from a well-known political family, and the Green Party had close to 20 per cent of the vote in 2017. Her vote percentage was just over seven per cent, and she gained just 1,579 votes. It is obvious that most of the Green vote from 2017 migrated to the NDP and Liberals. Many Green voters from 201...

Santa Claus has a bag full of goodies for the newsmakers among us. This is an update of a sneak preview of gifts Santa has for some of the newsmakers who affect our lives. The original was written in the midst of the windstorm of Dec. 20, just before the power went out at my home and in thousands of other places on or near the B.C. south coast. Of course, that was the day the White Rock pier broke apart in the storm, and the day the electoral reform referendum results came down. As a result of all that, Santa let me know that an update of the gifts he was giving was required. Over a bowl of Christmas cheer, I acquiesced. Santa had to change his list quite dramatically this year – even as late as Thursday, Dec. 20. So many of the politicians he had gifts for were summarily dumped by voters in October, and that didn’t give the elves in his workshop much time to retool. However, he’s managed to do his best with the time he had available. He knew earlier that Linda Hepner ...

The voting packages for the referendum on how B.C. voters will elect the next provincial government are either in the mail, or have been received. Mine came on Wednesday. Everyone on the voters' list should receive their ballots by today. If they don't, they should contact Elections BC. There is an ongoing rotating postal strike, but voters have yet to hear if there will be alternate ways to get them back to Elections BC - perhaps by dropping them off at designated locations. The municipal election is over, althoigh inaugural meetings of most new councils and school boards won't take place until next week. Now voters are being asked to cast another vote. The province is conducting a referendum, using mail-in ballots, on the issue of proportional representation. Voting was to start on Oct. 22, just two days after the municipal election. All completed ballots must be in the hands of Elections BC by Nov. 30. No date has been publicly set as to when results will ...