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VANCOUVER – There was no clear winner in Saturday’s British Columbia election, but the leader of the B.C. Conservatives says the province’s political landscape has “changed forever,” after his party pushed the incumbent New Democrats to the brink.

Neither party won enough seats to claim a majority, and vote counting was set to continue Sunday, with Premier David Eby’s NDP in striking range of a minority government if he gets the co-operation of the Greens, who won two seats.

Potential recounts mean it could be next week before the winner is decided.

But the night belonged to triumphant Conservative Leader John Rustad, who told supporters in Vancouver that even if the NDP retained power he would “look at every single opportunity from day one” to bring them down and trigger a new election.

“This is what happens when you stand on values,” said a beaming Rustad, whose party received less than two per cent of the vote four years ago.

Regardless of the final outcome, the days in the political wilderness are over for the Conservatives.

After an election day drenched by torrential rain across much of the province, the count ended around 1 a.m. Sunday with the Conservatives elected or leading in 45 seats, and the NDP in 46, both short of the 47-seat majority mark.

Elections BC said ballots cast by voters outside their district were still being tallied, while “election official availability and weather-related disruptions” were also delaying some preliminary results.

Nine out of 93 ridings were undecided, and in two of them, the Conservative and NDP candidates were separated by fewer than 100 votes.

Elections BC said recounts would take place in districts where the margin was 100 votes or fewer after the initial count. Recounts would take place on Oct. 26 to 28.

Rustad said his party had “not given up this fight” to form government.

“I am optimistic that people in this province are hungry for that change.”

Eby said in a muted speech to supporters in Vancouver that he “absolutely” acknowledged Rustad “spoke to the frustrations of a lot of British Columbians” and vowed to “do better” if his party forms the next government.

He said that although the outcome was unclear, there had been a “clear majority” of votes for progressive values. “But we’ve got to do better,” Eby said.

He said he was committed to working with Green Leader Sonia Furstenau, whose party could hold the balance of power.

Furstenau said her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.

The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.

Furstenau lost to the NDP’s Grace Lore after switching ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill, but said she was “so excited” for her two colleagues, calling their wins “incredible.”

“This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can,” she told her supporters in Victoria.

Botterell, a retired lawyer, said it was an “exciting day” for him and he was “honoured” for the opportunity to serve his constituents.

“Tonight’s a night for celebration,” he said. “There will be lots of discussion over the upcoming weeks, but I am totally supportive of Sonia and I’m going do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that’s her decision.”

Royal Roads professor David Black said the Greens retaining official party status after winning two seats could give them “some real bargaining power” in what is shaping up to be a very tight legislature.

“The Greens are going to be the kingmakers here whatever happens, if the race is as close as it is right now between two larger parties,” he said in an interview on election night.

B.C. Conservatives president Aisha Estey called her party’s showing “the ultimate underdog story” and relished what she called a “historic campaign.”

“Whether it’s government tonight or official opposition, we’re not going anywhere. There’s a Conservative Party in B.C. now finally,” she said. “We’re back.”

Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.

Outgoing NDP MLA George Heyman, who did not run for re-election, said it was always “going to be a tight election.”

“It’s reminiscent of 2017,” Heyman said, referring to the last B.C. election where no party reached majority. “The message is clear, people have been struggling. They’re having a hard time.”

The B.C. Conservatives set to enter the legislature include Brent Chapman in Surrey South, who had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post that called Palestinian children “inbred” and “time bombs.”

A group of former BC United MLAs running as Independents were all defeated, with Karin Kirkpatrick, Dan Davies, Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka losing to Conservatives.

Most results came in quickly on Saturday night, as promised by Elections BC, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time. But the closeness of the race defied expectations of a quick call.

There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.

It was a rain-soaked election day for many voters, who braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system.

Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.

— With files from Brenna Owen, Dirk Meissner, Brieanna Charlebois, Ashley Joannou and Darryl Greer

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

The outcome of British Columbia’s election was unclear after a close race between the NDP and the B.C. Conservatives, with the Greens poised to play a role in a potential minority government.

Here’s what the party leaders said on Saturday’s election night.

“We don’t know what the final count is going to be in the province, but what we do know is that there was a clear majority for the progressive values. And I take a lot of comfort from that … There is also another message in this narrowest of margins, that we’ve got to do better, and that was our commitment to British Columbians. We’ve got to do better, and we will do better.”

— NDP Leader David Eby

“People are counting on the hope, on the opportunity, on the vision of what can be (a) prosperous British Columbia, not one, quite frankly, that is in a welfare state that it is today … And I can tell you something else, if we’re in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down at the very first opportunity and get back to the polls.”

— B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad

“It does appear that the Greens are still going to play a pretty pivotal role in the B.C. legislature. It’s a strange time in politics when, during an atmospheric river, people came out and voted for a party that’s denying the reality of climate change. But hey, this is where we’re at. But I am so excited for (Green winners) Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell. This is incredible. This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can.”

— BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Alleged members of an Indian gang and its leader have been sending shivers down the spines of members of the South Asian diaspora in Canada for years, says a city councillor in Richmond, B.C.

Kash Heed said the Bishnoi gang, led by Lawrence Bishnoi, gained notoriety and instilled fear among Indian Canadians well before the RCMP accused the syndicate this week of orchestrating violent crimes on Canadian soil.

Mounties have alleged Indian diplomats shared information about Sikh separatists in Canada with the Indian government and top Indian officials then passed information to the Bishnoi.

“(Lawrence Bishnoi’s) reputation precedes him,” said Heed, also a former B.C. solicitor general and a West Vancouver police chief, in an interview.

“He is an individual that is prone to violence in India. A couple of years ago, the Bishnoi gang really started to hit the airwaves and people (were) concerned about it … a lot of the diaspora know about Lawrence Bishnoi and his activities (in India).”

On Monday, the federal government expelled six Indian diplomats after the RCMP said it had credible evidence Indian agents played a role in crimes, including the killings of Canadian citizens and extortion.

“What we’ve seen, from an RCMP perspective, is the use of organized crime elements and it’s been publicly attributed and claimed by one organized crime group in particular, which is the Bishnoi group,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin in a news conference Monday.

“And we believe that group is connected to agents of the government of India.”

India has insisted it hasn’t been given evidence of government involvement, and it ordered six Canadian diplomats to leave India.

Heed said he can’t speculate about how the gang and diplomats might be involved in crimes, including the killing last year of activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, leader of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.

But he said violent extortion cases connected to Bishnoi have been well documented by Canadian and Indian investigators in recent years.

Ritesh Lakhi agrees. The Indian journalist, who was a reporter for an ethnic B.C. radio show before moving to India, has covered the rise of the Bishnoi gang.

“Bloodbaths involving Bishnoi gang members have been happening for years now in India,” Lakhi said in an interview.

“Now this whole gang phenomenon has attracted global attention.”

In December 2023, police in Abbotsford, B.C., said they were investigating extortions involving affluent members of the South Asian community. They said suspects were believed to have ties to the Bishnoi.

Early this year, police in Ontario and Alberta said they were investigating similar extortion schemes, including some that saw bullets fired at businesses.

Heed said he knows one B.C. businessman who lost $3 million because of threats from people who claimed to be members of the Bishnoi.

The National Investigation Agency, India’s counterterrorism law enforcement agency, said in 2023 that Lawrence Bishnoi operates his “terror-syndicate from jails in different states” in India and through an associate in Canada.

Lakhi said the gangster was born in the northern Indian state of Punjab and immersed himself in violence while studying law. He was involved in street fights and arsons with other student leaders over university politics.

During one brawl, Lakhi said Bishnoi’s cousin was murdered and it’s believed Bishnoi shot the killer in revenge a year later.

Bishnoi also continued committing less serious crimes, including arsons and extortions, and was in and out of jail. Lakhi said he shared cells with notorious gang members and eventually took over a group that had lost its leader.

Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015, said Lakhi, and charges against him continue to pile up. Bishnoi is accused of orchestrating violent extortions while behind bars with a cellphone.

“This can be construed to be one of the factors that gives credence to the theory that the Indian state may be protecting Lawrence Bishnoi,” Lakhi said.

He said Bishnoi has recently gained more notoriety by threatening to kill beloved Indian celebrities, political figures and business leaders.

Lakhi said the Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility last week in the shooting of a senior politician in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, before a key state election.

In 2022, Bishnoi was accused of being behind the violent shooting of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, who briefly lived in Canada.

Lakhi alleged Bishnoi had at that time already expanded his network into Canada, noting a brother of an ally in India had moved to B.C. and helped recruit vulnerable Indians.

A 2021 court document says a student who was moving to Canada on a permit in 2017 requested refugee protection because he had been contacted and asked to join the gang and sell drugs.

The document says the student was beaten by Bishnoi gang members before he left for Canada. His application was denied.

Heed said he has heard of other cases of Canadian gangsters with no connection to Bishnoi referencing the group because of the fear its name creates.

“And now, the RCMP have raised (Bishnoi’s) profile significantly here in Canada,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.