Doug Clovechok won the riding of Columbia River-Revelstoke, taking the seat for the BC Liberals for the first time since 2005.
With all ballots counted, Clovechok earned a strong victory, receiving 6,325 votes, well ahead of his main rival, Gerry Taft of the NDP, who was the choice of 4,966 voters.
In his victory speech surrounded by friends and family, Clovechok expressed gratitude for all his supporters and assured voters that he will be their voice in Victoria.
“I pledged right from the very beginning, that when you get elected as a BC Liberal MLA, you represent the people that elected you, because those are the values that you’ve got across the line,” he said. “The people that didn’t vote for me, I’m their MLA too, and I’m going to work really really hard to represent that faction of people. We didn’t have that in the last 12 years. So their voices are going to be heard in Victoria.”
Green Party candidate Samson Boyer received 1,582 votes, Libertarian Rylan Kashuba 148, independent Justin Hooles 353 and independent Duncan MacLeod 450.
According to Elections BC, 13,824 out of 23,611 eligible voters cast a ballot, making turnout about 58.5 per cent — an improvement over 2013, when turnout was 53.6 per cent.
Provincially, the BC Liberals won 43 seats, 0the NDP won 41, and the Green Party could hold the balance of the power in the legislature with its three seats. The vote count is not final and some results could change when absentee ballots are counted from May 22-24.
Of the “elected”, only Columbia River-Revelstoke (considered a Lean NDP) has been a missed called.
— Éric Grenier (@EricGrenierCBC) May 10, 2017
The BC Liberals haven’t won here since 2001, when Wendy McMahon was elected the riding’s MLA the year the NDP got swept out of power provincially.
In 2005, she was unseated by Norm Macdonald, who held the seat for 12 years.
Video: Clovechok comments on his victory
For Clovechok, the win represents vindication from 2013, when he was defeated by Macdonald by almost 1,600 votes.
“We had a dream back in 2013 to do this, and we never stopped dreaming the dream. And we did it,” he said.
In the intervening years, Clovechok dubbed himself the riding’s non-elected MLA and worked hard to get himself elected on his second go.
“He stuck with it and helped a lot of people during this campaign and before his campaign and now he’s successful,” said Barry Ozero, one of Clovechok’s supporters at the BC Liberal’s Revelstoke campaign office. “I’m very happy.”
@Clovechok HQ in #Revelstoke. Columbia River Revelstoke still too close to call. pic.twitter.com/s25gWj7Rl8
— RevelstokeReview (@RevelstokeRevue) May 10, 2017
With Macdonald retiring, the NDP tapped Taft, the mayor of Invermere and a small business owner, to be his successor. Taft had to campaign while also fighting a defamation lawsuit, which he lost.
In the NDP campaign headquarters, Taft was feeling the ache of defeat.
“it’s the first time I’ve ever lost an election. Ever,” he said.
He said he would run again, if given the opportunity. “I still feel that I have the experience and that I could be a really good representative for the area,” he said. “It’s disappointing that it didn’t happen this time.”
Video: Taft comments on the results:
Boyer said he was feeling pretty good about the results. With almost 1,600 votes , he improved upon his party’s results from 2013, when Laurel Ralston got 921 votes.
The 18-year-old attributed his performance to being engaged with the electorate.
“I think my age played a part in that,” he said. “It’s more about the people. They want a change in government, they don’t want the two party system.”
He said his goal was to get 15 per cent of the vote, but he was happy with where he ended up, and that this “was only a start.”
“My next plan is university, get more engaged with the community and hopefully run again in four years,” he said. “If an 18 year old can get 12 per cent of the vote, who knows what a 22 year old can do.”
Hooles, a first-time independent candidate, didn’t get the result he was looking for on election night, but he found some positives to take away from the experience.
“I was hoping I would have done a little better,” he said in a phone interview on election night as the last few ballot boxes were being tallied. “But I really did enjoy this entire experience.”
Hooles took 2.55 per cent of the popular vote in the riding (based on the preliminary voting results).
He plans to run again in four years, and says he will be getting his name out in the riding earlier. In the meantime, he intends to look into running in the next municipal election.
“I’m interested in running for the Kimberley city council,” he said. “I also plan to look into issue like affordable housing as well as BC Hydro and Fortis rates… I think there’s a lot that we could be doing.”
At the end of a long campaign, Hooles says it’s not the result he was hoping for, but he can live with it, especially if there’s a possibility of a minority government (which was unknown at the time of the interview).
“I just hope that they can work together.”
MacLeod, who entered the race late as an independent, said the experience was “invigorating and inspiring.”
He said he was was quite pleased with his results, given he only campaigned for three weeks.
“i absolutely would try it again. My campaign was based on transparency, authenticity and sincerity,” he said. “My message was the ineffectiveness of adversarial politics, and I think that was heard.”
MacLeod, like the rest of B.C. voters, is anxious to see what the final results will be after recounts.
“i’d like to see a minority,” he said. “It would be an interesting commentary on what pro-rep might look like.”
Results for Columbia River-Revelstoke are:
Doug Clovechok, BC Liberal – 6,325 votes, 45.75 per cent
Gerry Taft, NDP – 4,966 votes, 35.92 per cent
Samson Boyer, Green – 1,582 votes, 11.44 per cent
Duncan Macleod, independent – 450 votes, 3.26 per cent
Justin Hooles, independent – 353 votes, 2.55 per cent
Rylan Kashuba, Libertarian – 148 votes, 1.07 per cent
