Heading south
Royal B.C. Museum pays homage to explorers Page A3
COMMUNITY: Victoria Day parade in final prep /A2 ARTS: Vaselka dancers bring witchery to stage /A10 SPORTS: Rock climbing nationals come to town /A17
VICTORIANEWS Friday, May 17, 2013
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B.C. ELECTION 2013: THE AFTERMATH
Star candidate secures first Green MLA seat Nobel Prize-winning scientist adds to resumé
Laura Lavin News staff
Don Denton/News staff
Re-elected New Democrat MLAs Maureen Karagianis, left, Carole James, Rob Fleming and Lana Popham applaud at the Victoria Conference Centre while watching party leader Adrian Dix concede defeat to the B.C. Liberals on TV.
On the outside looking in NDP MLAs face life without cabinet representation in the Capital Region With the return of a B.C. Liberal government and the toppling of stalwart MLA Ida Chong, south Vancouver Island’s interests could face dark days ahead, warns one political expert. Only two of the 14 seats on Vancouver Island are likely to be represented by B.C. Liberal MLAs, with a nearDaniel Palmer sweep on the South Reporting Island by the B.C. NDP
(New Democrat Gary Holman’s razorthin lead over the Liberals’ Stephen Roberts in Saanich North and the Islands is likely to trigger a judicial recount). “The Liberals have won a solid majority government without anybody on the (South Island),” said Dennis Pilon, associate professor of political science at York University and a specialist in B.C. politics. “Unless the Liberals figure they could gain back that support, there’s really not much incentive for them to work very hard to woo those voters.” Former B.C. NDP leader Carole James,
re-elected in Victoria-Beacon Hill on Tuesday, said a lack of Liberal MLAs on the South Island means her party will “work with ministers and within the system” to ensure regional interests are addressed. “We’ve gone to bat for our constituents in the past and I think they can count on us to do that again and to work both ways, as a strong opposition but also as a strong team to propose solutions,” she said.
While most Greater Victoria campaign parties were subdued at best, there were smiles all around at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, where the first provincially elected Green party member, Andrew Weaver, celebrated Tuesday. Gary Wright’s 1976 hit Dream Weaver pumped from the speakers just before party leader Jane Sterk took the stage to introduce the Greens’ golden boy. “Andrew will be a tremendous MLA,” Sterk Andrew Weaver said before slamming Liberal plans for several liquified natural gas plants. Earlier in the night Sterk, who lost VictoriaBeacon Hill to NDP incumbent Carole James, told the News: “One Green seat, as we’ve seen federally, is a breakthrough and will be provincially as well.” Weaver, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist and Canada Research Chair based at the University of Victoria, said he was shocked at the Liberals’ majority win and excited about his own. “I’m not going to come in off the bat making strong statements and policy,” he said. “I’ve got to learn what the position is from the inside out. Build strength in my voice by getting a background of what’s there.”
PLEASE SEE:
Local MLAs, Page A6
PLEASE SEE:
Green members, Page A6
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