Election aftermath
New Democratic Party (NDP) incumbent Nicholas Simons is pleased with his third win in the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding, but surprised with the final tally in the May 14 provincial election.
Simons was elected with 11,931 votes or 54.91 per cent of the popular vote. BC Liberal Patrick Muncaster was second with 7,203 votes or 33.15 per cent and BC Green Party candidate Richard Till placed third with 2,594 votes or 11.94 per cent.
The Liberals formed a majority government for the fourth election in a row and gained seats, finishing with 50, up from 45 in the previous election. The NDP finished with 33 seats, dropping three from their previous 36. One Green candidate was elected as well as one independent.
“Overall I’m not pleased with the way the province went, but these elections are up to the voters and the voters made their decision,” said Simons. “I think it’s fair to say I’m surprised by the outcome. I can’t explain it yet. I leave a lot of that up to the pundits to figure out what went wrong. Essentially it came down to people knowing who their candidates were. Some were scared by the attack ads.”
Many have already started speculating about the future of party leader Adrian Dix, but Simons said he is fully confident in his leader.
“Obviously after political events like this everyone starts talking about every single angle of what worked well and what didn’t. I think Adrian did a fabulous job,” said Simons. “I thought he stuck strictly to the messages of positive campaigning. He is one of the smartest guys I know. We’ll have a caucus meeting probably pretty soon to talk about all of the things that we can do differently. I don’t think leadership will be on that agenda, however people will probably have comments on how issues were addressed and I’m looking forward to that, because that will prove to just strengthen us.”
Simons has held the riding since 2005, when he won it with 43 per cent of the vote. He took the riding again in 2009 with 58 per cent of the vote.
“It’s been a good eight years so far,” Simons said. “I thought the incredible volunteers and the campaign team did a good job of making sure that our platform was clearly laid out and that I was accessible. I can say the campaign did exactly what we were supposed to do here.”
For his part, Till said he was happy with how the campaign went.
“All things being considered we stood up at the last moment when we found out there was not a candidate, and to see us double the last campaign’s votes is something that is humbling. It’s a voice that tells us that people are serious of Green,” said Till. “I would say one of the most powerful things was being able to meet people and to listen to them. One thing is clear to me and that is we need to bring some balance into the political system and better accountability in this province.”
Till said there were four objectives coming into the campaign and he feels all were met.
“We gave a voice to green, we engaged all voters, we brought young people into the discussion and we increased our presence from the last election in this riding. So we met all four of our objectives,” he said. “We’re confident we can move on from here and there will be an even greater Green presence here on the Coast.”
— Ian Jacques, Coast Reporter, with files from Laura Walz, Powell River Peak and John Gleeson, Coast Reporter
Timber deal
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP), an entity of Brookfield Asset Management, has reported a sale of its 25 per cent stake in forest company Island Timberlands for $170 million.
News of the deal was released in BIP’s May 2 quarterly results. The corporation plans on re-investing the proceeds of the sale into its “targeted, after-tax annual return on equity of 12 per cent to 15 per cent.”
Island Timberlands is a privately owned company which has an interest in over 258,000 hectares of forested lands primarily on Vancouver Island, but also on the Upper Sunshine Coast.
When asked about how the deal would affect local logging in the area Morgan Kennah, spokesperson for Island Timberlands, said the company is not in a position to comment about the deal.
Neither Brookfield nor Island Timberlands will comment on who the buyer is.
Centre opens
Top officials from BC SPCA will be in Powell River on Saturday, May 25, to celebrate the opening of the community’s animal centre.
Craig Daniell, chief executive officer, and president Marylee Davies will welcome the public and local government officials to the new facility at 7558 Duncan Street. Ceremonies will begin at noon.
In a July 2010 referendum, Powell River Regional District residents voted to support a $75,000 annual contribution toward the operating costs of the new centre. BC SPCA donors funded the remaining $860,000 needed for the purchase of land and building of the centre.
The official opening of the facility will be followed by an open house from 1 to 4 pm, featuring a wide range of animal-themed activities.
