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BC election officials still need to count 65k ballots in virtual tie between Conservatives, NDP

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

“Final count process for B.C.’s provincial election is scheduled to begin on October 26 and will conclude on October 28.” 

Election officials in the province of British Columbia now say there are 65,000 ballots yet to be counted, up from 45,000 following last Saturday’s election that has the Conservative Party and the reigning New Democratic Party in a virtual tie. 

In an election count update Thursday, Elections B.C. says during its “screening process” it now estimates that “approximately 65,000 ballots will be counted as part of final count,” which is significantly more than the original 45,000 estimate.  

According to Elections B.C., the “final count process for B.C.’s provincial election is scheduled to begin on October 26 and will conclude on October 28.” 

It is estimated that on October 27, the final mail-in- ballot counts will be complete. There are recounts underway in two ridings as well, which were remarkably close between the NDP and Conservatives.  

Elections B.C. says the “final count” will involve three distinct processes, “counting mail-in ballots, counting absentee ballots, and recounts of ballots counted on election night.” 

Final results will be made available on its social media channels and website. 

As reported by LifeSiteNews, initial counts show the B.C. Conservatives under leader John Rustad with 45 seats, while the ruling NDP under Premier David Eby have 46 seats. A party needs 47 seats to form a majority government in the province. The Green Party appears to have won 2 seats, meaning should the seat count remain as is, the distant third party will effectively hold the balance of power. 

Rustad won his seat easily, beating out his NDP rival with 68 percent of the vote. His win was the first time since 1978 that a Conservative has won a seat in the B.C. legislature.  

It hasn’t been since 1991, the last year B.C. was ruled by the Social Credit Party under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, that the province has been under the control of parties other than the NDP or Liberals.  

B.C.’s Conservative Party shot up in popularity after the former Liberal Party of the province, under its new name B.C. United, lagged in the polls. Then B.C. United decided shortly before the election to pull all its candidates and throw its support behind the Conservatives.  

Rustad, a former Liberal MLA, also gained popularity for promising to restore order and oppose the woke policies popularized under the NDP.  

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Rustad, just days before the election, condemned sexually explicit material in school libraries and indicated that he would remove them if elected.  

Rustad has also come out in opposition to the use of often-sterilizing puberty blockers for gender-confused children and has condemned SOGI 123, a nationwide program pushing LGBT ideology in schools under the label of “inclusivity.”  

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2025 Federal Election

Donald Trump suggests Mark Carney will win Canadian election, touts ‘productive call’ with leader

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From LifeSiteNews

‘It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election,’ Trump wrote about Carney on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he had “an extremely productive call” with Prime Minister Mark Carney and implied that the World Economic Forum-linked politician will win Canada’s upcoming federal election.

“I just finished speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney, of Canada,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday. “It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Reacting to the post, LifeSiteNews editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen wrote on X:

Trump’s comments come just weeks before Canadians head to the polls on April 28 for a federal election. Carney called the snap-election just nine days after taking over for Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister.

Carney, an admitted “globalist” and “elitist,” formerly served as head of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, and has extensive ties to globalist groups like the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.

Trump’s comments regarding Carney may prove significant as much of the debate in the mainstream media ahead of the election has been about how the prospective leaders will handle tariff threats and trade deals with America.

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Fraser Institute

Premier Eby seeks to suspend democracy in B.C.

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From the Fraser Institute

By Niels Veldhuis and Tegan Hill

Last week, B.C. Premier David Eby proposed new legislation to give himself and his cabinet sweeping powers to unilaterally change almost any provincial law and regulation without legislative approval or review. While the legislation—dubbed the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act—has yet to be enacted into law, the fact that the government proposed such unprecedented powers is deeply concerning and a genuine threat to our democracy.

Only five months ago, British Columbians went to the polls and delivered a sobering victory to Eby’s incumbent NDP government, which lost 8 of its 55 seats and ended up with 47 of 93 seats, the narrowest “majority” possible. The popular vote was nearly dead-even between the NDP (44.86 per cent) and the upstart Conservative Party (43.28 per cent).

Even Premier Eby acknowledged the voters sent his government a message and promised to work together with other parties. “After a close and hard-fought campaign, it’s now time to come together to deliver for people,” he said. “British Columbians have asked us to work together and make life better for them.”

“Work together” in a democracy means embracing a deliberative and, at times, messy process. Thoughtful policymaking takes time. It’s a core feature of democracy. No leader has all the knowledge to act unilaterally to do what’s right. We need the legislature to weigh competing viewpoints through rigorous and transparent debate—that’s how our system works.

Yet according to the Eby government, the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act will lead to the opposite and provide “temporary authority to cabinet… to modify the application or effect of B.C. laws and regulations.” In other words, if approved, it will allow Premier Eby and his cabinet to override provincial laws, regulations, bylaws, rules, resolutions, practices, policies, standards, procedures and other measures without approval or review by the elected legislature. That’s not how our system is supposed to work.

To put it more starkly, the Eby government is telling British Columbians that 23 cabinet ministers and four ministers of state can sufficiently decide almost any matter pertaining to the government without democratic approval or input from opposition parties. It is by all measures an extraordinary circumvention of the province’s democratic institutions.

Premier Eby, of course, knows the extraordinary nature of this type of undemocratic authority. “In extraordinary times,” he told reporters last week, “we need extraordinary powers.” And he wants these extraordinary powers for the next two years.

While President Trump’s tariffs are terrible economic policy and very damaging to Canada and other countries, many governments throughout history have tried these policies. Like in the past, our politicians and policymakers must deal with tariffs and other economic challenges purposefully and deliberately within democratic constraints, which include transparent debates, reviews, re-assessments, and genuine deliberations that include opposition parties.

Instead, Premier Eby wants absolute power and control.

As British Columbians will no doubt conclude, there’s something fundamentally wrong with suspending democracy because we’re in challenging times. We often deal with significant challenges. Should our governments have suspended democracy in the wake of 9/11, the limited outbreak of SARS, the financial crisis of 2008-09 or COVID?

Finally, this dim view of democratic constraints is not new to the Eby government. Just last year, Premier Eby tried to pass one of the most significant and fundamental legislative changes in B.C. history, giving more than 200 First Nations veto power over land-use decisions in the province. Eby hoped to rush his legalisation through the legislature without full transparency or meaningful public input, and without disclosing any analysis of its economic impact. When British Columbians caught wind of his plan, there was an uproar, and before October’s election, Eby shelved the legislation (for now, at least).

Here we are again, mere months later, with Premier Eby wanting to make unprecedented changes to our democracy in response to an economic policy from another democratically elected government that, while damaging, is hardly an existential threat.

To call the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act a significant overreach would be a gross understatement. It’s an affront to our democracy.

Niels Veldhuis

President, Fraser Institute

Tegan Hill

Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute
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