Saanich North and the Islands (SNI) voters chose a Green candidate for the third straight provincial election, as Rob Botterell of Pender Island got the nod from 36 per cent of the electorate in preliminary results.
“It’s a great night,” said Botterell on Saturday night when only a couple of polls remained to be counted but he had a four per cent lead over the NDP’s Sarah Riddell. “It’s a real honour to be elected as the Green MLA for Saanich North and the Islands.”
Preliminary SNI results were:
• Rob Botterell, Green: 11,858 votes (36.05 per cent);
• Sarah Riddell, NDP: 10,540 votes (32.04 per cent);
• David Busch, Conservative: 9,876 votes (30.02 per cent);
• Amy Haysom, independent: 623 votes (1.89 per cent).
At the end of counting on Saturday night, the NDP were elected or leading in 46 seats province-wide, the Conservatives in 45 seats and the Greens two. Some “out of district” ballots had not yet been included in tabulations, and recounts will be done in two ridings where the vote difference is less than 100 votes: Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre, where the NDP candidates are slightly ahead of the Conservatives. Elections BC says a final count will take place between Oct. 26 and 28. Judicial recounts may then occur “if the difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered.”
While Green Party of BC leader Sonia Furstenau was not elected in Victoria-Beacon Hill, the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding also went Green with candidate Jeremy Valeriote, so the Greens will have official party status in the BC Legislature — and quite possibly the balance of power.
Botterell said Furstenau’s loss was very disappointing, but she and past MLA Adam Olsen will still be politically involved.
“It’s going to be great to be able to have that wisdom and work with them,” he said.
Botterell also added: “I really want to make a point of giving a big shout out and congratulations to the other candidates . . . I think we’ve all run really proper campaigns and this is what democracy is all about.”
Botterell thanked all of his volunteers, including those on Salt Spring who “have worked tirelessly over the last couple of months to introduce me to the community and give me an opportunity to make the case for voting for me.”
One of those volunteers is longtime Green party member Tom Mitchell.
Mitchell said, “Joy was in the air” on Saturday night, with the strong victory being “a tribute to the groundwork laid by the retiring Adam Olsen and the hard work put in by Rob himself, plus all the volunteers on the islands and in Saanich, especially considering that Rob was a relatively new face on the scene with little time to get known.”
The three other candidates also gave warm thanks to their volunteers and congratulations to Botterell.
“My heart is full of gratitude,” said Riddell. “While last night wasn’t the result we hoped for, I’m so proud of the work we did together. We ran a positive local campaign that centred community and made up ground in a tough riding.”
“Congratulations to Rob Botterell on your win,” she added. “I look forward to working together in service to our community.”
Busch noted that the local Conservative riding association was only founded on Aug. 17.
“In two months we grew, activating hundreds of volunteers and raising the funds to get our word out. Case in point, we ran out of lawn signs, twice! While it has been an exhausting couple of months, I’m happy that we ran an upbeat, cheerful and introspective campaign where we led the way identifying important local issues with common sense solutions,” he said.
He added that he enjoyed working with his opponents in this election, “in particular Amy Haysom, whose tenacity and warmth was noticed by all. Congratulations to Rob Botterell, our new MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. My door is always open to discuss local issues and help improve the lives of our constituents.”
Independent candidate and Salt Springer Haysom said, “It’s a tough run as an independent as without proportional representation, people tend to vote within party boundaries with a fear of ‘splitting the vote,’” and noted that Botterell had been an independent MLA candidate in 2001.
“I am so very grateful for an amazing campaign team, and that people were keen to hear of a new independent political approach, focused on transparency and accountability, and commitment to constituents first and foremost. It may be a longer journey to get there, but I’m committed to the long haul.”
The SNI riding saw the highest number of advance poll voters in the province, at 18,277, from a total of 48,787 voters registered as of Oct. 7. Final local turnout numbers were not yet available.
Preliminary voter turnout province-wide was 57.43 per cent.