NDP incumbent MLA Nicholas Simons is heading back to the legislature in Victoria - once again as a part of the official opposition.
Simons was elected with 11,931 votes or 54.91 per cent of the popular vote in Powell River-Sunshine Coast. Liberal Patrick Muncaster was second with 7,203 votes or 33.15 per cent and Green Richard Till came third with 2,594 or 11.94 per cent.
"I'm very pleased with the strength of support that will continue to encourage me over the next four years," said Simons in an interview with Coast Reporter on Wednesday morning.
Several media outlets called the riding just after 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night with CBC declaring Simons the first candidate elected.
Simons has held the riding since 2005, when he won it with 43 per cent of the vote. He took the riding again in 2009 with 58 per cent of the vote.
"It's been a good eight years so far," Simons said. "I thought the incredible volunteers and the campaign team did a good job of making sure that our platform was clearly laid out and that I was accessible. I can say the campaign did exactly what we were supposed to do here."
But the victory was bittersweet for Simons.
In a stunning election night turn of events the Liberals formed a majority government with several Lower Mainland media outlets making the call around 9:45 p.m. It is the fourth Liberal majority government in a row that left political pundits speechless around the province as polling numbers widely suggested the Liberals would go down to certain defeat.
The Liberals actually gained seats finishing with 50 up from 45 in the previous election and the NDP finished with 33 seats losing three from their previous 36. The Green Party broke through with Andrew Weaver becoming the first MLA for the party winning Oak Bay-Gordon Head.
"Overall I'm not pleased with the way the province went, but these elections are up to the voters and the voters made their decision," said Simons. "I think it's fair to say I'm surprised by the outcome. I can't explain it yet. I leave a lot of that up to the pundits to figure out what went wrong. Essentially it came down to people knowing who their candidates were. Some were scared by the attack ads.
"I think ultimately we need to re-group and make sure we don't abandon the principles that have got us essentially within four or five percentage points of the winning party. Sometimes this is just how things end up."
Many have already started speculating about the future of party leader Adrian Dix, but Simons said he is fully confident in his leader.
"Obviously after political events like this everyone starts talking about every single angle of what worked well and what didn't. I think Adrian did a fabulous job," said Simons. "I thought he stuck strictly to the messages of positive campaigning. He is one of the smartest guys I know. We'll have a caucus meeting probably pretty soon to talk about all of the things that we can do differently. I don't think leadership will be on that agenda, however people will probably have comments on how issues were addressed and I'm looking forward to that, because that will prove to just strengthen us."
Muncaster, speaking to a small group of supporters at Sirens by the Sea Steakhouse in Davis Bay on election night, thanked his family and campaign manager Shannon Kewley for their dedication.
"It's been an amazing campaign," Muncaster said. "I met so many people and I want to thank all of you who worked on my campaign and contributed to the effort."
Muncaster said he enjoyed his interactions with Simons and Till, describing them as "people who are interested in public service - and there's no higher calling."
The election came at a time "when B.C. is making some really important decisions about its future," he said. "We've got a triple-A credit rating, we've got a lot of natural resources, we've got talented people, and we can move this province forward -for this generation."
For his part, Till said he was happy with how the campaign went.
"All things being considered we stood up at the last moment when we found out there was not a candidate, and to see us double the last campaign's votes is something that is humbling. It's a voice that tells us that people are serious about Green," said Till. "I would say one of the most powerful things was being able to meet people and to listen to them. One thing is clear to me and that is we need to bring some balance into the political system and better accountability in this province."
Till said there were four objectives coming into the campaign and he feels all were met.
"We gave a voice to Green, we engaged all voters, we brought young people into the discussion and we increased our presence from the last election in this riding - so we met all four of our objectives," he said. "We're confident we can move on from here and there will be an even greater Green presence here on the Coast."
- With files from John Gleeson and Laura Walz/Powell River Peak
