The NDP holds one more seat in the Legislature than the BC Conservatives. David Eby will continue as Premier by depending on support from Rob Botterall and Jeremy Valeriote, two elected Green Party members. With all ballot boxes counted, material change is unlikely when the final count is released on October 26.
John Rustad’s right-wing coalition will form the Official Opposition but it is an unstable group. Newly elected centre-right Conservatives are wary of far-right radicals and will fight them for control of the party.
Interviewed today in Victoria, Rustad suggested he could find common ground with BC Greens. I cannot imagine that party would support the Conservatives. However, Green energy and environmental policies are also a long way from those of the BC NDP.
A cooperation agreement between the two centrist parties is possible, but the Greens hold a hammer and may use it to shift NDP Government policies.
The Legislature must have a Speaker, so Premier Eby is in a tough position. The party will be looking at former BC Liberals to see if one will follow the route taken by Darryl Plecas in 2017. Younger ones are not likely to risk political purgatory but one older Conservative MLA-elect may enjoy benefits available if the position of Speaker is accepted.
A troubling aspect of this election is the turnout of only 57 percent of registered voters. That is disappointing because Elections BC worked hard to encourage and enable voters. There were six days of advance voting plus the final day on October 19. Unregistered people could be added to the voters’ list at any poll, with the process taking only minutes. Votes for a person’s home riding could be cast anywhere in the province.
The severe rainstorm on the final day probably discouraged some voters but the trendline shown below demonstrates a problem. Political scientists may understand why participation in voting has declined, but I wonder if today’s young adults are less inclined to value democracy because they have taken it for granted. Older individuals were raised in families directly affected by WW2, in which about one in ten Canadians served to defeat a fascist dictatorship. Protecting democracy matters to people of the baby-boomer generation.
Categories: Democracy, Election BC 2024, Elections BC
in-sights.ca 
This could turn out to be the least-worse outcome. Hopefully the Green MLAs will be able to keep the NDP straighter on environmental issues.
Gordon Wilson’s column on here (September 4) is worth re-reading with the benefit of hindsight. Mr Falcon has dissolved his party for nothing and left a climate change denier in charge of the opposition.
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So disappointed 😞 Hopefully Eby can remediate and solve issues that got out of hand & I suspect the unvetted Cons will quickly self destruct. Hard to herd cats.
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Where the boy scout of politics, David Eby, fell short is in his policies on the drug problem.
Eby’s contender for the leadership of the NDP after Horgans departure was Leonard Krog who is now mayor of Nanaimo and is fighting for a tougher approach to the ,world wide, drug problem especially here in Nanaimo.
I have to wonder just how the election would have played out with Krog at the helm?
TB
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Where the boy scout of politics, David Eby, fell short is in his policies on the drug problem.
Eby’s contender for the leadership of the NDP after Horgans departure was Leonard Krog who is now mayor of Nanaimo and is fighting for a tougher approach to the ,world wide, drug problem especially here in Nanaimo.
I have to wonder just how the election would have played out with Krog at the helm?
TB
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Only 57% voted, you say? No surprise there, as there was no choice. Like many in BC, I found the leaders of the NDP and Conservatives unfit to be premier, therefore a moral conundrum: either vote for a party which leader was deemed unfit to be premier and, as there was no Green candidate in my riding, I did not to vote.In out 19th centruty, first past the post, electoral system, there is noway for a voter to register is opinion of the parties or the people chosen to run in each riding. This has left many disenfranchised as our antiquated system just does not work for today’s politic.
The Greens, i.e. Fursteneau blew it by pretending they could take on the big boys and girls in BC politics and in no way the Greens could. Instead of fighting for the restoration of the E&N as a modern regional railway, they opted with the flavour of the month, “Free Transit” which is an oxymoron at best and is unworkable in BC.Fursteneau’s political naivete cost the Greens dearly.
The ever growing problem in BC is that our youth, now see the province through dystopian glasses, where they cannot find or afford accommodations and good jobs far and few between and what is left is “slinging chips” until robots replace that job.
There future for our youth is weak, where taking drugs is a way to escape the harsh realities of a province mismanaged by politicians, NDP, Conservative, Liberal, for now 40 years and counting. Voting for them, like democracy, has become a myth, nothing changes.
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