British Columbia’s tight election, by the numbers

VICTORIA – The NDP appears to have won enough seats to form government in British Columbia, however it is unclear whether it will be a majority or minority.

The Canadian Press is projecting that Premier David Eby’s New Democrats have won at least 46 seats, while holding a razor-thin lead in the undecided riding of Surrey-Guildford amid an ongoing count of absentee ballots.

There are 93 seats in the legislature and if the NDP’s lead holds in Surrey-Guildford, it will have enough for the barest majority of 47 seats, although the prospect of a judicial recount looms because the margin is so tight.

The B.C. Conservatives were elected in at least 44 seats, while the Green Party won two, in an election battle that came down to a count of about 22,000 absentee ballots on Monday, nine days after the Oct. 19 vote.

NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon said Monday he was “glad to see the numbers come in and I’m glad to see we can move forward.”

“It’s still going to require a lot of co-operation in the legislature. We’re still going to be reaching out to the Greens to find ways to work with them.”

Kahlon said it was too early to say when the legislature would be recalled, but suggested one of the first orders of business will be swearing in a new cabinet.

The NDP said Eby would speak at a media availability at the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday.

The NDP overtook the Conservatives’ 12-vote lead in Surrey-Guildford as Monday’s count of absentee and special votes unfolded, and a mid-afternoon update from Elections BC had the NDP in front by 18 votes.

A count of more than 43,000 mail-in and assisted telephone votes provincewide over the weekend had put the NDP within striking range in Surrey-Guildford, sending the race down to the absentee ballots.

Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa went into the weekend’s count with a lead of 103 over NDP incumbent Garry Begg.

While Monday’s absentee vote finally produced a winner in the election, there could still be judicial recounts in any riding where the margin is less than 1/500th of all votes cast.

Margins in two ridings were within that threshold on Monday, with a handful of votes yet to be counted — Surrey Guildford, where the recount threshold is about 38 votes, and Kelowna Centre, where the Conservative lead of 43 was below the recount threshold of about 51 votes.

There have already been two full hand recounts in the election, although neither played a significant role in the outcome.

In Juan de Fuca-Malahat, where a recount ended Monday, the NDP lead of more than 120 votes has put it out of Conservative reach.

A recount on Sunday in Surrey City Centre reduced the NDP lead by three votes but it grew to more than 200 as absentee counting progressed.

A partial recount in Kelowna Centre saw the Conservative lead cut by four votes.

Aisha Estey, president of the B.C. Conservative Party, said she spent the weekend in a warehouse watching the counting of mail-in ballots.

In a post on social media, she said: “Elections BC staff have been working tirelessly and doing their best within the confines of the legislation that governs their work.”

“Would we have liked mail-ins to be counted closer to (election day)? Sure,” she added. “But I saw nothing that caused me concern.”

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Montreal’s mayor says a welcome sign depicting a woman wearing a veil that adorns a lobby at city hall will be taken down in the name of secularism.

Valérie Plante said during a talk show that aired Sunday night that the image of the woman wearing a hijab will be removed because of the “discomfort” it causes but also because institutions must strive to be secular.

The welcome sign, as well as a photo in a public library of a young girl wearing a headscarf, has been criticized in the media, and the Parti Québécois has said the two images show that religion has begun invading the public sphere.

Plante told Radio-Canada talk show “Tout le monde en parle” that she understands the discomfort with the welcome sign, adding that it’s possible to promote diversity as well as secularism.

The subject of religion in the public sphere has resurfaced in recent weeks after 11 teachers were suspended at a Montreal public elementary school over allegations of toxicity and creeping religious instruction.

The mayor’s office said today it had nothing further to add about Plante’s appearance on the talk show, which came just days after she announced she wouldn’t seek a third term as mayor in next year’s elections.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – Former senator Mobina Jaffer says she was told by the Sudanese intelligence director that he felt Canadian officials had asked him to detain Montreal man Abousfian Abdelrazik.

Jaffer, who retired from the Senate earlier this year, testified today in Federal Court in Abdelrazik’s lawsuit against Ottawa over his detention and alleged torture in Sudanese custody two decades ago.

She recalled her September 2004 meeting in Sudan with Salah Gosh, who was then the director of the country’s intelligence service.

Jaffer, Canada’s special envoy for peace in Sudan at the time, said Gosh told her Canada thought Abdelrazik was a terrorist and wanted him to find out if he was indeed an extremist.

She said Gosh informed her Sudanese intelligence tried “all kinds of ways” to find out, but was completely satisfied he was not a terrorist, and that it was time for Canada to take him back.

Jaffer said it was no secret the intelligence service used brutal methods, so she immediately knew that Abdelrazik did not have a pleasant experience in custody.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.