When the dust settled Tuesday night, the B.C. Liberals had won 50 seats and the NDP had won 33 seats, while an independent and Green candidate each won a single seat. NDP candidate Judy Darcy was elected as New Westminster's MLA, although the Liberals shocked many political pundits and polls by winning a majority government.
"Locally, I was looking forward to Judy Darcy being a cabinet minister in government and having some real influence and pushing for our community," said Dawn Black, who retired as the city's MLA prior to the election. "She will still be a strong, strong advocate for our city. I know that. I have a lot of confidence in her, but it's a disappointment that we're not in government."
Black said she was "feeling rather devastated" that the NDP didn't form government, as many had expected.
"I think there will be a period of reflection. We have to examine the campaign very carefully and analyze it. We weren't the only ones who were wrong. The Liberals were wrong. Everybody was wrong, the pundits, the pollsters, both political parties," she said.
"We have four-and-a-half years until the next election to regroup, to rebuild."
Black, who provided political commentary on CBC on election night, said a former Liberal cabinet minister told her in the station's green room that his party would be lucky to get 30 seats.
"It was a fabulous opportunity, I just don't understand how we didn't win. It was the best opportunity we have had for a generation or more. I really don't understand what happened," Black said. "I think that the positive campaign we tried to run perhaps was an experiment that didn't work. I feel sad about that. People tell you all the time they are fed up with negative campaigns, but the Liberals ran an extremely negative campaign. Their campaign consisted of attacking the NDP leader and not telling the truth. Even when they were called out on the issues that they weren't telling the truth on, they continued."
Chuck Puchmayr, a current city councillor who served as the city's NDP MLA before Black, said it's "disheartening" that a party can'T win an election running a clean campaign.
"Twelve years of Liberal corruption, everything from B.C. Rail to run of the river mega projects, cost overruns - it makes the Fast Ferries issue seems so minute," he said. "But the Liberals have literally run three campaigns on that."
Puchmayr was disappointed that the "real issues of fiscal mismanagement" by the B.C. Liberals didn't really stick during the campaign.
Because people have short attention spans, he said it's important to remind voters of problems that had taken place during the Liberals' 12 years in government, such as spending $6 million of taxpayers' money to cover legal expenses for two men who pled guilty for breach of trust related to the release of confidential B.C. Rail information and the cost of a new roof for B.C. Place that was significantly higher than the original budget.
"It's fair game. It's not fair game when you attack someone personally," he said. "There are some issues that really needed to be heard."
While he wasn't closely connected to the NDP provincial campaign, he said the party started on a path of being a "civil government, a civic opposition" in the legislature.
"They rose in the polls," he said. "It's only prudent to think they could carry that on."
Puchmayr said he had hoped the NDP would form government so it could move to ban corporate and union donations from election campaigns, and to launch an inquiry into the sale of B.C. Rail.
"That's not going to happen now," he said. "There's a lot of things that are not going to be able to happen now."
Black said she's hoping the Liberals will focus on some of the issues that matter to many British Columbians, such as seniors' care, the education system and the environment.
"I hope they will turn their attention to the people in our society who need help the most," she said. "They certainly haven't done that in the past."
New Westminster appears to be on par with the provincial voter turnout on election night.
Elections B.C. estimates that 50 to 52 per cent of eligible voters cast votes in Tuesday's provincial election.
While turnout surpassed 60 per cent in several ridings, New Westminster appears to be on track for a turnout of 50 to 52 per cent.
"The numbers would indicate we were fairly close to the provincial average," said Vicki Bradbury, chief electoral officer in New Westminster.
According to Bradbury, 23,782 votes were cast in New Westminster on Election Day. Elections B.C. officials are now sorting through the absentee ballots and preparing to send those to ridings on Tuesday morning.
"You can vote anywhere in the entire province," Bradbury noted.
In addition to sending out ballots to other electoral offices across the province, the New Westminster office will also be receiving votes cast elsewhere by people who live in New Westminster.
Once the local office receives those ballots, they'll be counted and the "initial results" will be updated and a "final count" and will be made official by May 29 and official voter turnout will be known.
