by Greg Klein | October 25, 2020

Press time results

• New Democratic Party: 55 seats, 45.03% of the popular vote

• BC Liberals: 29 seats, 35.41%

• B.C. Greens: 3 seats, 15.3%

Helped by a pandemic spending spree, British Columbia’s precarious New Democrat minority became a strong majority with a decisive October 24 victory. Although the outcome hadn’t been expected for two weeks due to mail-in ballots from 30% to 35% of voters, media outlets proclaimed the new government just after 9:30 p.m. With final results still pending, the NDP is currently projected to win 55 of 87 seats, followed by 29 for the BC Liberals and three for the Greens.

At dissolution the NDP and Liberals each held 41 seats, along with two Greens, two independents and one vacancy. The NDP had governed under an agreement with the Greens, who won three seats in the 2017 election. That arrangement was made possible only through the extremely unusual manoeuvre of enticing a Liberal to leave his party for the Speaker’s job. The arrangement became more unstable after Green leader Andrew Weaver quit the party, planning to leaving politics for family reasons.

Despite his spending promises, NDP leader John Horgan told media he wouldn’t raise or create new taxes. The party’s official platform promises a Mining Innovation Hub that would “identify and support innovation, training for workers in new technologies, regulatory excellence, environmental management and low-carbon approaches.” The party calls for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

A jurisdiction of regulatory uncertainty under both the NDP and the previous Liberal governments, B.C. came under criticism in March for a supposed 60-day review that dragged on with 28 government reviewers, “multiple catastrophic deficiencies and concerns,” and “moving goalposts.” Taranis Resources TSXV:TRO later credited intervention by the provincial Ombudsperson for “help[ing] set the trend towards more transparent, accessible and fair proceedings for bulk-sampling projects.” 

In March and again in June, Weaver criticized the fairness of the NDP towards Pacific Booker Minerals’ (TSXV:BKM) proposed Morrison mine, a project that also suffered regulatory uncertainty under the supposedly mining-friendly Liberal government.

On the hustings, the Liberals criticized the NDP for refusing to ban foreign money and activist groups from the province. “Their goal? To shut down energy, forestry and mining projects—killing thousands of B.C. jobs. And their plan is working and causing havoc throughout B.C.”

The Liberals vowed to prevent protesters from blocking Trans-Mountain pipeline construction.

Without providing details, the Liberals also promised to simplify and clarify environmental regulations while maintaining high standards for resource industries.

Both the NDP and Liberals backed liquefied natural gas development and the Site C hydro mega-project.

Among Green commitments was a pledge to lower the voting age to 16.

As Green leader, Weaver wanted to take down the minority government over the issue of liquefied natural gas but failed to get the support of his two colleagues, who needed to serve four years to qualify for a generous pension. Critical of the two MLAs, Weaver, a mathematician and climate scientist who shared in a 2007 Nobel Prize, endorsed the NDP.

On his departure, Weaver’s affluent car-dependent riding went to the NDP but the Greens won another affluent car-dependent riding from the Liberals.

Eight days before the election the Mining Association of B.C. called for mines and smelters to be protected from the provincial carbon tax. Citing a 2019 B.C. Mining Jobs Task Force report, the group called the tax “the single greatest barrier to helping the industry succeed and compete in the global market.”

“Currently, 46 national and 32 subnational jurisdictions have a price on carbon and B.C.’s carbon tax is among the highest in the world.  All jurisdictions with carbon pricing, except B.C., provide meaningful support for their mining industries.”

With nine mines facing depletion, the province will have only five operations in 2040 if no new mines come into production, the MABC warned.

An issue glossed over during the campaign shows big government expanding at the cost of community safety. With the help of activists drawing on cryptic sources of funding, homeless camps and their attendant crime waves proliferate in southwestern B.C. probably like nowhere else in Canada. The phenomena accompanies a tax-funded services industry that does little to treat mental illness or addiction. No party offered clear plans to deal with the issue, although the Liberals promised to hire another 100 psychiatric social workers or nurses and add 200 police officers to Canada’s catch-and-release program for repeat offenders.

Following New Brunswick’s September 14 vote, this was Canada’s second pandemic-era election. Saskatchewan goes to the polls on October 26.