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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 21
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Austin sets sights on his third term Newly re-elected Skeena NDP MLA Robin Austin is taking a few days to absorb both his third election victory and the failure by his party to be chosen to run the province. Speaking after he defeated BC Liberal candidate Carol Leclerc May 14, Austin described his win as a “squeaker” with 5,106 votes or 47.11 per cent of ballots cast compared to Leclerc’s 4,739 votes or 43.76 per cent. Austin’s three victories put him in second place in provincial Skeena riding election wins. Dudley Little was elected four times for the Social Credit party in 1960, 1963, 1966 and 1969. Austin said he looks forward to introducing private mem-
bers’ bills to the Victoria legislature to gain some leverage from the opposition’s bench and make the concerns of his constituency known. Austin said he thinks this election marks the first time a party had been ahead in the polls for more than a year in BC to not only then lose but by such a wide margin – 50 Liberal seats to 33 for the NDP with one Green and one Independent. “I think political scientists will be analyzing [last week’s] election and see that something very unusual happened,” Austin said. Despite being re-elected, Austin was nursing his own wounds, having lost several hundred votes in what is typically
an orange crush town, Kitimat. A visit by Clark to Kitimat just days before the election and a visit before the writ was dropped, both with campaign messages about the NDP slowing down development, “resonated with workers,” Austin admitted. A final count to include absentee and other ballots won’t take place until May 27, but Austin’s total did drop by 763 votes compared to 2009 while Leclerc’s Liberal vote went up 411 compared to 2009. Leclerc was actually leading Austin as the count began May 14 but the gap closed later that night when results from the Nass Valley and Kitimat began to come in. With the result so close late into the eve-
ning, Leclerc was not ready to concede until all of the final votes were counted on May 27 – including absentee votes and those cast at mobile polls held at hospitals and work camps and at more rural communities. But the next day, noting the 363 votes separating her and Austin, she phoned Austin to say she would accept the results and to wish him well. “It’s too much of a gap to call a recall,” she said. “It is what it is.” Leclerc will continue with her human resources job at the Coast Mountains school district and take some time to figure out the next step. During her latenight “thank you” speech to supporters on election night, one sup-
Newly re-elected MLA Robin Austin, watching results come in through the television on election night in Kitimat. porter called out that Leclerc would be ready to run in four years – but Leclerc isn’t making any promises yet.
“Four years is a long time, lots can happen in four years,” she said. “We’ll see what happens in the next
couple of years here.” Leclerc said she thoroughly enjoyed competing with Austin. Continued on page 9
Results defy provincial student vote Cameron Orr If students had their way, Robin Austin would have sailed into his third term with 55.86 per cent of the vote and Carol Leclerc wouldn’t have a leg to stand on with just 15.59 per cent. A far cry from Austin’s actual 47.11 per cent, and Leclerc’s close 43.76 per cent initial result. Student Vote is a program run across B.C., and all four Kitimat public schools participated in the program. Through it, candidates visited the schools, and elections were held much in the same way that the real ones are. One of the biggest result differences is actually with Mike Brousseau of the B.C. Conservatives, who beat Leclerc with 23.61 per cent of the student vote. Brousseau’s engagement with the students is likely the source of his student success, and he was later remembered as one of the most animated candidates who visited area schools. The British Columbia Party’s Trevor Hendry received 32 total votes in the Skeena riding, or 4.94 per cent of the votes from students. Provincially, students had also predicted a vast NDP
majority for government, rather than the return of the Liberal government. As a whole, the student vote would have seen the NDP take power with 63.5 per cent of the seats in the legislature, or 38.5 per cent of the votes. The B.C. Liberals would have taken 22.5 per cent of the seats, and 28.1 per cent of the vote. Those student results mean the Liberals would have had 20 seats, not 50, and the NDP would have had 54 seats, not the 33 they wound up taking. In Kitimat, Nechako Elementary rocked for voter turnout, with 68.88 per cent of their 210 ballots being cast. A screen capture from the Student Vote results website, showing Kitimat City High had a similarly how Skeena fared from the student perspective. good turnout, with 68.88 per cent of their students voting. cent of their 10 ballots. Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School returned On a provincial level, the Green Party would have seen 51.79 per cent of their vote, and Kildala Elementary re- eight seats go to them in the election, rather than the one turned 51.45 per cent of the ballots. actual seat they took in the real election. The Haisla Community School returned exactly 50 per See page 3 for more from the students.
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Enbridge offers river tour ... page 7