Shirley Bond and Mike Morris formed the northern portion of a surprising Liberal wave Tuesday night as the free enterprise party won a fourth straight term in office.
Despite trailing in the polls for the entire campaign, the Liberals bounced back on election night to defeat the NDP after promising to make the province debt-free through royalties from liquified natural gas developments.
"Tonight was an unbelievable experience," Bond told the new media after addressing a few hundred supporters. "Pollsters are now scrambling trying to explain what went wrong here. We just have to look across the country in other elections the polls got it wrong and the voters got it right."
Bond kept her perfect election record intact, defeating Sherry Ogasawara of the NDP in Prince George-Valemount. With four straight wins, Bond is the most successful local provincial politician since Ray Williston won six straight elections in Fort George in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bond described the win as a "humbling experience" and said she believed the tide turned after the televised leaders' debate midway through the campaign. She said Liberal leader Christy Clark carried the rest of the party to victory.
"I think that Christy was exceptional in that debate and people saw the difference in the leadership," she said. "I had people on the doorsteps saying, 'you know this woman is quite something and she has the potential to bring people together.'"
With early returns showing the Liberals leading both locally and provincially, the crowd at the Liberal party at the Coast Inn of the North was skeptical early on. During her acceptance speech Bond even said the magnitude of the Liberal win province-wide surprised her. But as the momentum grew and media outlets started calling seats across the province in favour of the Liberals, a buzz started to fill the room.
Morris's seat was called first in the room as he soundly defeated Bobby Deepak of the NDP in Prince George-Mackenzie to keep the seat in the Liberal column for the fourth election running. Pat Bell had held the seat the past three terms, but didn't run this time due to health concerns.
"It was a really strong showing for him tonight," Bond said. "There were some concerns about a newbie in the race filling Pat's shoes, but what he brings is a track record of excellence here in the north. He was well-known in his community, he's articulate, he has a lot of knowledge and I'm looking forward to having him as a partner."
Despite a video screen in the room showing Bond doubling Ogasawara's support throughout much of the evening, local organizers kept the crowd in suspense and didn't call her win until more than 90 minutes until after the polls closed.
When they finally did make the call, Bond and Morris walked triumphantly into the hall.
Both Deepak and Ogasawara stopped by the Liberal party to offer their congratulations in person.
With experience leading the education, health and justice ministries during her 12 years in cabinet, Bond is almost certainly a lock to regain a seat around the cabinet table.
About 100 NDP supporters were on hand at the Civic Centre to applaud Deepak and Ogasawara as they entered a reception room.
"We fought the good fight and it was a fight," Ogasawara told supporters.
Both NDP candidates said they were disappointed in the outcome and noted that while pollsters had the NDP in the lead, the only true poll is the one held on election day.
