B.C. voters go to the polls in provincial election on October 24

by Charlie Smith on September 21st, 2020 at 11:21 AM

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Lieut.-Gov. Janet Austin has agreed to Premier John Horgan's request to dissolve the legislature.

She's also consented to Horgan's desire for an October 24 provincial election in B.C.

The NDP held 41 of the 87 seats in the legislature at dissolution. The B.C. Greens had two seats, and the B.C. Liberals had 41 seats following the resignation of Tracey Reddies, who represented Surrey–White Rock.

Speaker Darryl Plecas and former B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver were independents.

Horgan is hoping that the B.C. NDP can win its first majority government since 1996, when Glen Clark led the party to a come-from-behind victory.

“We’ve made a lot of progress for people over the last three years," Horgan said in a party news release. "We invested in healthcare and schools. We build transit, housing and childcare centres. We eliminated the MSP—the largest middle-class tax cut in B.C. history—and during this pandemic, we kept people safe while staying focused on what matters,” Horgan said.

B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson will speak to reporters at 1 p.m.

The B.C. Greens are being led into the election by Sonia Furstenau, who represented Cowichan Valley before dissolution.

Over Twitter, she slammed the NDP Leader for forcing a provincial election in the midst of a pandemic when he was already leading a stable government.