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B.C. election recounts triggered in two ridings, delaying result for a week

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VANCOUVER – British Columbia‘s redrawn political landscape won’t be settled for about a week, with manual recounts triggered in two key ridings after a nail-biting provincial election that has yet to produce a clear winner.

Elections BC said Sunday the recounts will take place from Oct. 26 to 28 in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre, where NDP candidates lead B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes.

The Conservatives will likely have to win both to secure a one-seat majority, and if not, Premier David Eby’s incumbent NDP is poised to form a minority government provided it secures the co-operation of two Greens elected on Saturday.

The NDP is leading or elected in 46 ridings, and John Rustad’s Conservatives in 45, both shy of the 47 seats needed for a majority government in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.

The initial count that wrapped up Sunday does not reflect about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots that will be included in the final count starting next Saturday, Elections BC said.

The two recounts will be conducted by hand. Candidates in other ridings have until Tuesday to request recounts if the margin is less than 1/500th of the total ballots cast.

About 57.4 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in Saturday’s election, up from 53.9 per cent in 2020.

With nearly 2,037,900 ballots cast, Elections BC said it’s the most votes ever tallied in a B.C. provincial election.

The outcome may be uncertain, but the election represented a stunning moment for the B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election.

After the completion of the initial count, the NDP had received 44.6 per cent of the total vote, the B.C. Conservatives 43.6 per cent and the Greens 8.2 per cent.

Green Campaign Chair Adam Olsen said it was too early to speculate on the legislative makeup, who will form government or even the likelihood of a minority government.

“The reality is that there is a handful of seats right now that seemingly could go either way,” he said Sunday in an interview. “Right now nobody has a majority government. Sometime here at the end of October they are going to count the votes and we’ll know for certain then what the outcome is. But it’s pretty tight.”

The situation recalls the 2017 election when Greens won three seats and helped the NDP form a minority government led by Eby’s predecessor, John Horgan.

“What ever the outcome at the end of this, when those writs are returned to the legislature, the goal here now for all 93 members of that place is to make it function,” Olsen said.

“(Green Leader) Sonia Furstenau said multiple times throughout the campaign that neither of these other parties deserve a majority government and it looks like so far the people of B.C. agree with her.”

Rustad told supporters Saturday the B.C. Conservatives will seek to topple the NDP as soon as possible if the election results in a minority government.

“If we are in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down … and get back to the polls,” he said.

Eby said in a muted election night speech that a “clear majority” of voters supported “progressive values.”

But he acknowledged that Rustad “spoke to the frustrations of a lot of British Columbians” when it came to costs of living and public safety.

“We’ve got to do better,” Eby told supporters. “That was our commitment to British Columbians. We’ve got to do better, and we will do better.”

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

Neither Eby nor Rustad were available for public events Sunday.

But Eby released a statement.

“After a close and hard fought campaign, you, British Columbians have asked us to come together and work to make life better. I am determined to listen and get down to work for you.”

Under Westminster tradition, if no party secures a majority, the incumbent party gets the first opportunity to try to form a minority government — in this case, the NDP, with the help of the Greens.

Elections BC said more than 99.7 per cent of votes were counted on election night, but ballots cast by voters outside their district were still to be tallied, while “election official availability and weather-related disruptions” delayed some preliminary results.

Furstenau lost her seat but said her party was nevertheless 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.”

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

David Black, a professor at Greater Victoria’s Royal Roads University, said the Greens retaining official party status by 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 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 at the party’s election night event. “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, quickly was acclaimed 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.

Among the B.C. Conservatives set to enter the legislature is Brent Chapman in Surrey South, who had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post in which he 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, Mike Bernier and Tom Shypitka losing to Conservatives.

For the NDP, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen lost to Conservative Sharon Hartwell.

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 on Saturday.

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

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

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‘No happy paintings’: Dozens of art works by Canadian war artist at Calgary exhibit

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CALGARY – There’s a darkness in the work of venerated Canadian war artist Bill MacDonnell, who has spent three decades travelling the world as a self-described silent witness.

MacDonnell’s paintings document the impact of conflict from Bosnia to Afghanistan as well as revisiting atrocities of the past.

He has inspired other artists to follow in his footsteps, and an exhibit of his work is on display at the Military Museums in Calgary through Remembrance Day and into 2025.

“Bill’s very much into the idea of watching, very quietly. You don’t see many people in his works,” said curator Dick Averns, who has met and written about MacDonnell, and was inspired to travel to the Middle East as part of the Canadian Forces War Artists Program.

“A lot of Bill MacDonnell’s work is around the theme of cultural amnesia. They draw attention to histories that are in danger of being forgotten.”

Averns said it was MacDonnell’s example that encouraged him to apply.

“My drive was to have that first-hand experience. My theory in making the art and having a critical eye similar to Bill’s is ‘What are the unseen areas?’ I was interested in relationships between oil, the war in Iraq and 9/11.”

Lt.-Col. Bill Bewick, now retired from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, had taken over as commander of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment when he took MacDonnell to Croatia with the United Nations Protective Force in 1994.

“He’d been over to Europe and various places before, but I think that was his first combat experience,” said Bewick, who took art lessons from MacDonnell years later at what was then called the Alberta College of Art and Design.

“We found a stone building that collapsed with old people and some others incapacitated in it.

“It was a low priority to dig the people out because they were all deceased and we saw that, and the odours associated with that. Those kind of experiences for an artist are pretty intense.”

MacDonnell went back on his own a few months later and visited Sarajevo.

MacDonnell could not be reached for an interview and was unable to attend the opening of his exhibit.

Of the two dozen paintings on display, many depict the aftermath of war with destroyed buildings.

His 1995 painting “Mined Churchyard” show a bombed Serbian church in Bosnia.

“They’re all rather depressing. They’re not happy paintings. There’s no happy paintings,” said Bewick.

“There’s a couple with colour. There’s a nice green grass over there but there’s some other stuff that’s not so happy.”

Averns said the two patches of colour are both of mass graves from eastern Europe and Kyiv when it was part of the former Soviet Union.

In Babi Yar, almost 34,000 Jews were murdered and dumped in a ravine by the Nazis in 1941 as they made their way through Europe.

“They were either shot at the edge of the ravine or they were marched in to lie one on top of the other and shot in the back of the neck,” said Averns.

The mass grave is now a memorial site.

“There was no marker at this site for decades. You can see (on the canvas) here one of the monuments — a ramp with tumbling figures meeting their demise as they went down into the ravine.”

Averns said the second painting shows the mass graves commemorating the German siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days and saw 800,000 deaths.

The exhibit is MacDonnell’s first in Western Canada since 2006.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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In the news today: Trump declares victory and secures comeback

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Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Donald Trump declares victory and secures political comeback

Former president Donald Trump is poised to return to White House after a polarizing U.S. election that deeply divided the country. The U.S. election on Tuesday saw Trump post early wins in critical states by taking Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. Vice-President Kamala Harris did not appear at her election night party at her alma mater Howard University in Washington. Top aides told the audience that Democrats would continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. However, U.S. TV networks projected Trump would be the winner early Wednesday morning.

Final day for nominations in Nova Scotia election

Today is the final day for candidate nominations in Nova Scotia’s provincial election campaign. Under the province’s Elections Act, nominations must close 20 days before election day on Nov. 26. The Progressive Conservatives confirmed in a news release last week that they will have a full slate of 55 candidates. The NDP and Liberals confirmed Tuesday that they will have a full slate of candidates, though there was no immediate word from the Green Party. At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats in the 55-seat legislature, the Liberals held 14 seats, the NDP had six and there was one Independent.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Nunavut premier to face confidence vote Wednesday

Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok is expected to face a confidence vote today in the territorial legislature. In a surprise move on Monday, Aivilik MLA Solomon Malliki gave notice that he’d present a motion calling for Akeeagok to be stripped of his premiership and removed from cabinet. In Nunavut’s consensus style of government — in which there are no political parties — the MLAs elect a premier from amongst themselves. If the motion passes, Akeeagok would be the second premier in Nunavut’s history to be ousted by the Legislative Assembly.

Greater Toronto home sales surge in October: board

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates. The board says 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis. Board president Jennifer Pearce says that while it is still early in the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate cutting cycle, homebuyers appear motivated by lower borrowing costs which contributed to a “positive affordability picture” last month alongside relatively flat home prices.

Work of Canadian war artist on display in Calgary

More than two dozen paintings from respected Canadian war artist Bill MacDonnell are on display at the Military Museums in Calgary. MacDonnell spent three decades recording conflicts in Europe, Bosnia and Afghanistan but also looked back at atrocities from the past. Two of his paintings depict mass graves from the Second World War in Kyiv and Russia. Curator Dick Averns says MacDonnell considered himself to be a silent witness to some of the atrocities of war and usually involved destroyed buildings and the aftermath of war. The exhibit at the Military Museums in Calgary is the first for the artist since 2006.

Paula Hawkins talks isolation and new thriller

In Paula Hawkins’ latest thriller, people are emerging from pandemic isolation, engaging with culture once again, when a gallerygoer notices something a bit off about a sculpture displayed at the Tate Modern: it contains a deer bone that looks like it might actually be human. Set in the U.K. art scene, the end of COVID-19 lockdowns is a catalyst for the plot in the was-there-a-murder mystery. The thriller, centred on a mysterious museum collection hiding deadly secrets, is told from three perspectives: that of an artist who died shortly before the onset of the pandemic, her friend-turned-caretaker-turned-executor, and the museum curator tasked with retrieving the remaining artworks left to his employer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Justin Trudeau congratulates Donald Trump on his U.S. presidential win

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has extended congratulations to Donald Trump on his re-election as president of the United States.

Trump staged a major political comeback, securing the necessary 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

This concludes a turbulent campaign for Trump, which included being convicted of 34 felonies in a hush-money case and two assassination attempts.

“On behalf of the government of Canada, I congratulate Donald Trump on being elected as President of the United States of America for a second term, and Senator JD Vance for his election as Vice-President of the United States,” Trudeau said in a statement.

“Canada and the U.S. have the world’s most successful partnership. We are neighbours and friends, united by a shared history, common values, and steadfast ties between our peoples. We are also each other’s largest trade partners and our economies are deeply intertwined.”

Trudeau added that in Trump’s first term, the two nations along with Mexico successfully negotiated the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement. Trudeau stressed the multi-billion dollar value of cross-border trade.

That trade deal is up for review in 2026, and Trump has promised to introduce a universal 10-per-cent tariff on all American imports.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly also shared her congratulations on the social media platform X.

“Canada and the U.S. are friends, neighbours and allies — deeply connected through our economies and our people,” she wrote.

“Together, we’ll focus on investment, growth and global peace and security.” Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman also extended congratulations to Trump and his running mate JD Vance.

“We have the great fortune of being neighbours, and the U.S. has no closer partner and ally than Canada. Looking forward to working together toward a more prosperous and secure future,” she said in a statement.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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