NDP incumbent Nicholas Simons has been re-elected for a fourth term in Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
After all the ballots were counted, Simons had 11,846 votes, Liberal Mathew Wilson was sitting at 5,717 votes, Kim Darwin of the Greens had 5,629 and Cascadia candidate Reuben Richards had 152.
In a phone interview from his campaign celebration party in Powell River Tuesday night, Simons told Coast Reporter that he thinks it may have been one of the hardest fought of the four races he’s been in.
“I’d say that it went into places that none of the campaigns had before in terms of more hard-hitting political dialogue… Part of that was due to the provincial circumstances.”
Simons credits his win with continuing to do what he’s done in his previous three elections. “I tried to focus a lot on what I thought was a really good platform, and who I considered was a very good leader, and I think that resonated. And people liked the fact that we focused on the issues here.”
In a follow-up conversation Wednesday, Simons said NDP MLAs are as uncertain as the rest of British Columbians as they await the final counts, including absentee ballots, that Elections BC will undertake in two weeks, as well as recounts in close ridings.
“We won’t really know what the make-up of the Legislature will look like until all these outstanding questions can be answered.”
Simons also said the NDP caucus had a conference call scheduled for May 10.
“This is a new situation for everyone. It’s exciting. I think everyone is seeing politics slightly differently today.”
Powell River-Sunshine Coast was considered a fairly safe NDP seat heading into the campaign, and one of the biggest surprises was the close margin between second and third.
Coast Reporter reached Wilson by phone at his campaign’s Powell River headquarters.
“Locally, obviously it’s not the result we were hoping for, but we ran a good campaign, we had a great team. I’m proud of putting a positive campaign together with local issues,” he said. “I think the local campaign got a little overtaken by some of the broader provincial messaging going on.”
Wilson also said he wasn’t surprised by the strong Green showing based on what he heard on the doorsteps during the campaign from people who wanted to vote, but felt provincial politics was getting too negative.
“I think there’s a lot of people who – I would say – parked their votes with the Greens. People who were NDPers, Liberals in the past who said ‘we don’t want to see the negative politics, we want to see someone who’s got a positive vision for British Columbia.’”
As for the future, Wilson said, “I’m not going anywhere. I grew up on the Coast. My family’s on the Coast. I want to be a strong local voice for the Sunshine Coast and an advocate.”
Darwin, the only candidate to spend election night on the lower Sunshine Coast, where she and her supporters gathered at Buccaneers Restaurant in Sechelt, told Coast Reporter she thought the campaign took a nasty turn in the late going.
“I guess maybe people weren’t quite ready. I don’t think people understood the message of hope we had. We really were running on a message of hope that politics could be different,” said Darwin.
“The campaign got very, very nasty, probably in the last 72 hours... I purposely ran as clean a campaign as possible. I didn’t throw any dirt on anyone else and it’s incredibly disappointing that some parties felt that was the way that they would win, at all costs. It was really a divide and conquer campaign that certain parties ran worse than others.”
Darwin is also leaving the door open for another run. “I may actually go back on [BC Green Party] provincial council, and we’ll be starting a riding association. We’ve had lots of people come forward saying they want to start a riding association, so we will not be starting from scratch next go around. We’ll be ready.”
Local government leaders were also paying close attention to the campaign.
Speaking on Coast TV May 4, Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne said the outcome of a provincial election matters to municipalities for two main reasons. “It makes a difference because governments do make different choices and if more of our concerns are infrastructure, then a government that leans toward infrastructure will be more important and easier to work with,” he said.
“If our issues are more on the social [policy] side of things then maybe a government that leans more in that way will help us solve those [issues] a little better. It also makes a huge difference in terms of the ‘pick up the phone and talk’ level of discussions… We can build relationships with anyone, but sometimes those are easier with some cabinets than others.”
Shíshálh Nation Chief Warren Paull said the party leaders and local candidates did a good job addressing issues of interest to First Nations and shíshálh, which also has municipal government responsibilities in many areas. “By and large most of the things we want to involve ourselves in, and are of interest to my people, are being discussed.”
Mayor Wayne Rowe of Gibsons agreed that the parties are talking about issues that matter to local governments.
“They’re all talking about affordable housing, but I’m not sure what that will translate into,” Rowe said. “Seniors’ health care is another one… For the first time in history there are more people over 65 than under 14 in this country, so that has some dramatic policy implications going forward.”
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) chair Garry Nohr said the SCRD was paying close attention to what was being said about regulating Airbnb style short-term rentals, improving rental housing stock, and road infrastructure.
A total of 23,344 out of the roughly 37,458 registered voters in the riding cast a ballot, for a preliminary turnout of 62.3 per cent, slightly lower than the 63.2 per cent in 2013. Provincially, voter turnout is estimated at around 57 per cent. The riding’s best voter turnout between 1991 and 2013 was 82.6 per cent in 1991.
– With files from Christine Wood
