National

B.C. election: NDP takes lead in key riding, putting Eby on track for majority

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Oct, 2024 12:20 PM

The NDP has overtaken the B.C. Conservatives in the ongoing count of absentee votes in a crucial Metro Vancouver riding, putting Premier David Eby on course to win government with a razor-thin majority.

Final count continues today. We have updated results on our website and will update results hourly until final count is complete. Find the updates here: https://t.co/m9nVXkpnMa
— Elections BC (@ElectionsBC) October 28, 2024

The NDP now leads Surrey-Guildford by 14 votes and if it hangs on there and in other races, it would have a one-seat majority in the 93-riding legislature.

Elections BC officials are counting more than 22,000 absentee and special ballots provincewide today, nine days after the province’s election.

We knew this was going to be a close election, but we’ve been here before. BCers support our fair election process and the people at Elections BC making sure every vote gets counted.

Thanks to candidates, volunteers & election workers who make democracy work.
— David Eby (@Dave_Eby) October 27, 2024

The Conservatives had been ahead in the closest race of Surrey-Guildford by 12 votes going into the tally, but there were an estimated 226 votes still to count and each hourly update saw that lead whittled away.

Our movement is only beginning. #bcpoli https://t.co/y8yOGNwS1m pic.twitter.com/svFI9XeUYU
— Conservative Party of BC (@Conservative_BC) October 27, 2024

In a noon update by the elections authority, the NDP was elected or leading in 47 seats, while John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives were leading or elected in 44 and the Greens had won two seats.

A count of more than 43,000 mail-in and assisted telephone votes over the weekend put the NDP within range of victory in Surrey-Guildford, sending the race down to the absentee ballots.

While today’s absentee vote could finally produce a winner in the election, there could still be judicial recounts in any riding where the margin is less than 1/500th of all votes cast.

In Surrey-Guildford, where an estimated 19,306 votes were cast, the margin for a judicial recount is about 38 votes or fewer.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Liberals plan talks to launch school food program before end of next school year

Families Minister Jenna Sudds says the government hopes to see kids getting meals from the national school food program before the end of the next school year, but it will take time for organizations to scale up their operations. The Liberals set aside $1 billion over five years for the program, which they promised during the 2021 election campaign.

Liberals plan talks to launch school food program before end of next school year

'Senseless violence': Woman killed in Surrey home invasion, father says

The father of a homicide victim in Surrey says she was killed in a home invasion on the weekend. The Integrated Homicide Investigation team says 30-year-old Tori Dunn died after being found with life-threatening injuries at a home in the Port Kells area of Surrey late Sunday night.

'Senseless violence': Woman killed in Surrey home invasion, father says

Man charged in assault

Surrey police say a 41-year-old man has been charged with aggravated assault in connection to a stabbing last month. R-C-M-P say a woman was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries on May 26th.

Man charged in assault

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon loses another candidate to Rustad's Conservatives

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon has lost another member of his election team to British Columbia's Conservative Party. Business leader and former District of Sechelt councillor Chris Moore announced he will no longer represent BC United in the October provincial election in the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding and will instead run as a candidate for Leader John Rustad's Conservatives.

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon loses another candidate to Rustad's Conservatives

Extreme heat deaths higher among seniors and in cities with more renters, study says

A new report by Statistics Canada says deaths in the country's 12 highest-population cities go up on days when there is extreme heat. The study says people aged 65 and older are the hardest hit. Cities with larger proportions of people renting their homes had higher risks of death during extreme heat events.

Extreme heat deaths higher among seniors and in cities with more renters, study says

Calgary marks two weeks of water restrictions; pipe pieces arrive from San Diego

It has been two weeks since a massive water pipe ruptured in Calgary, leaving residents under restrictions. Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Wednesday also marked the fourth day in a row Calgarians have successfully used less water than the city produces, avoiding the risk of the taps going dry.