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B.C. NDP wins razor-thin majority after marathon vote count; two recounts pending

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VICTORIA – The B.C. New Democrats have won a majority of seats after a final count of the votes in the provincial election.

But Elections B.C. says two of the seats, Kelowna Centre and Surrey-Guildford, are so close there will be automatic judicial recounts.

In Kelowna Centre, the difference between the B.C. Conservatives and the NDP is 38 votes and the threshold for a recount is 49.

In Surrey-Guildford, the threshold for a recount is 38 votes and the difference between the top two candidates is 27.

A majority government requires 47 seats and that’s exactly what the NDP and Premier David Eby got, ahead of John Rustad’s Conservatives at 44.

The Greens won two seats.

Eby says he has already met with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin and she asked him to form the next government.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Fake content is getting harder to detect but Hinton has an idea to make it easier

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TORONTO – Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton says it’s getting more difficult to tell videos, voices and images generated with the technology from material that’s real — but he has an idea to aid in the battle.

The increased struggle has contributed to a shift in how the British-Canadian computer scientist and recent Nobel Prize recipient thinks the world could address fake content.

“For a while, I thought we may be able to label things as generated by AI,” Hinton said Monday at the inaugural Hinton Lectures.

“I think it’s more plausible now to be able to recognize that things are real by taking a code in them and going to some websites and seeing the same things on that website.”

He reasons this approach would verify content isn’t fake and imagines it could be particularly handy when it comes to political video advertisements.

“You could have something like a QR code in them (taking you) to a website, and if there’s an identical video on that website, all you have to do is know that that website is real,” Hinton explained.

Most Canadians have spotted deepfakes online and almost a quarter encounter them weekly, according to an April survey of 2,501 Canadians conducted by the Dais, a public policy organization at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Deepfakes are digitally manipulated images or videos depicting scenes that have not happened. Recent deepfakes have depicted Pope Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket and pop star Taylor Swift in sexually explicit poses.

The Hinton Lectures are a two-night event the Global Risk Institute is hosting this week at the John W. H. Bassett Theatre in Toronto.

The first evening saw Hinton, who is often called the godfather of AI, take the stage briefly to remind the audience of the litany of risks he’s been warning the public over the last few years that the technology poses. He feels AI could cause or contribute to accidental disasters, joblessness, cybercrime, discrimination and biological and existential threats.

However, the bulk of the evening was dedicated to a talk from Jacob Steinhardt, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and statistics at UC Berkeley in California.

Steinhardt told the audience he believes AI will advance even faster than many expect but there will be surprises along the way.

By 2030, he imagines AI will be “superhuman,” when it comes to math, programming and hacking.

He also thinks large language models, which underpin AI systems, could become capable of persuasion or manipulation.

“There is significant headroom, if someone were to try to train (them) for persuasiveness, perhaps either an unscrupulous company or a government that cared about persuading its citizens,” Steinhardt said. “There’s a lot of things you could do.”

He told the audience he sees himself as a “worried optimist,” who believes there’s a 10 per cent chance the technology will lead to human extinction and a 50 per cent chance it will cause immense economic value and “radical prosperity.”

Asked at a later news conference about Steinhardt’s “worried optimist” label, Hinton called himself a “worried pessimist.”

“There’s research showing that if you ask people to estimate risks, normal, healthy people way underestimate the risks of really bad things … and the people who get the risks about right are the mildly depressed,” Hinton said.

“I think of myself as one of those, and I think the risks are a bit higher than Jacob (Steinhardt) thinks, let’s say around 20 per cent.”

Hinton also used the news conference to share more about what he has done with his half of the 11 million Swedish kronor (about C$1.45 million) he and Princeton University researcher John Hopfield received when they won the Nobel Prize for physics earlier in the month.

Hinton said he has donated half his share of the award to Water First, a Creemore, Ont., organization training Indigenous communities in how to develop and provide access to safe water systems.

He initially mulled giving some of the money to a water organization actor Matt Damon is involved with in Africa, but then he said his partner asked him “What about Canada?”

That led Hinton to discover Water First. He said he was compelled to donate to it because of the land acknowledgements he hears at the start of many events.

“I think it’s great that they’re recognizing (who lived on the land first), but it doesn’t stop Indigenous kids getting diarrhea,” he said.

Hinton previously said some of his winnings will also be directed to an organization that provides jobs to neurodiverse young adults.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

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Here’s the latest on Saskatchewan’s provincial election

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It’s election day in Saskatchewan. Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party is seeking a fifth-straight majority, while Carla Beck’s NDP is looking to take back government for the first time since 2007.

Here’s a look at the latest developments. All times are CST.

8 p.m.

The polls have closed in the Saskatchewan provincial election.

The Saskatchewan Party’s Scott Moe is awaiting the results at an arena in his hometown of Shellbrook.

Carla Beck of the NDP is watching from her riding in Regina.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Saskatchewan Party jumps to early lead in multiple ridings in provincial election

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Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe retained his seat while many of his rural candidates jumped out to early leads in Monday’s provincial general election.

Moe, leading his party into a second election as leader, was declared the winner in Rosthern-Shellbrook shortly after polls closed.

Saskatchewan Party candidates were leading in about 20 other rural ridings, which had been expected, compared with a handful for the NDP.

None of the urban ridings had reported results.

Carla Beck’s New Democrats were expected to rely on victories in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert to try to find a path to 31 seats to win a majority government in the 61-seat legislature.

The Saskatchewan Party was seeking a fifth-straight majority to add to its 17 years in office, while Beck’s NDP was looking to take back government for the first time since 2007.

The voting caps a month-long campaign that focused on health care, affordability and crime.

Moe promised broad tax relief and continued withholding of federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa.

His platform would cost an additional $1.2 billion over four years. He said his tax reduction plan would save a family of four $3,400 over four years. It also includes tax credits for those looking to grow their families or put their children in sports and arts.

Moe promised deficits in the first two years, followed by a surplus in 2027.

Beck pledged to spend more to fix health care and education, pause the gas tax, and remove the provincial sales tax on children’s clothes and some grocery items.

She said her promises would cost an additional $3.5 billion over four years, with plans to cut what she calls Saskatchewan Party waste and to balance the budget by the end of her term.

Moe also promised that his first order of business if re-elected would be to ban “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls.”

He said he made the promise after learning of a complaint at a southeast Saskatchewan school about two biological boys using a girls change room.

It was later revealed that a parent of the two children who were the subjects of the complaint is an NDP candidate. Moe said he didn’t know that when he made the promise.

Beck has said such a ban would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable. She also promised to repeal a Saskatchewan Party law that requires parental consent if children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.

Political experts have said Moe is favoured to win the election, given his party’s strength in rural areas, but recent polls suggested a closer race.

At dissolution, the governing Saskatchewan Party had 42 seats, while the Opposition NDP had 14. There were four Independents and one seat was vacant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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