On May 9, local Liberal MLAs Shirley Bond and Mike Morris were handily reelected to their fifth and second terms in office, respectively.
In Prince George-Valemount, Bond took 58.2 per cent of the vote (11,189 votes), ahead of NDP candidate Natalie Fletcher (29.56 per cent, 5,683 votes) and Green candidate Nan Kendy (12.24 per cent, 2,353 votes). In Prince George-Mackenzie, Morris received 57.12 per cent of the vote (10,725 votes), ahead of Bobby Deepak of the NDP (31.65 per cent, 5,942 votes) and Green Party candidate Hilary Crowley (11.23 per cent, 2,109 votes).
"Things are a little close provincially right now, so we'll so how that goes," Bond told the crowd at her election night party, before launching into her victory speech.
Indeed it was close and, after counts continued late into the night, preliminary results showed the Liberals with 43 seats - one short of a majority government - the NDP with 41 seats and the Greens with three seats. Several seats were won with a margin of only a couple hundred votes, and both the NDP and Liberals hoped pick up additional seats when Elections B.C. counted the absentee ballots on May 24.
Once the final tallies were counted, Courtney-Comox was decided by 189 votes, Richmond-Queensborough was decided by 134 votes, and Coquitlam-Burke Mountain was decided by a mere 87 votes. However, no seats changed hands.
Green Party leader Andrew Weaver engaged both then-Liberal leader Christy Clark and NDP leader John Horgan in discussions of a possible coalition. On May 29, Horgan and Weaver announced the Green Party MLAs would support an NDP government on confidence motions, but would not form a formal coalition.
Clark then announced she and her party would form a minority government. On June 12, Clark announced her cabinet and Bond remained at her post as Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour, while Morris continued as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
The posts would be short-lived. The B.C. legislature convened on June 22, and on June 29 the Liberals were defeated in a confidence motion.
Clark resigned and asked Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon to dissolve the legislature and call a new election. Instead, Guichon invited the NDP to form a minority government, with Green Party support.
On July 18, Horgan and the NDP government were sworn in as the province's new government.
Bond, sitting on the opposition side of the legislature for the first time in her long career in office, now serves as the Liberal finance critic -a post she shares with rookie MLA Tracy Readies.
Morris retained the public safety and solicitor general portfolio, now as part of the opposition shadow cabinet.
The B.C. Liberals are now in the search for a new party leader, with the date for the leadership elections set for Feb. 3 (see related story).
