It’s going to be days before he knows if his party will form government, or if he will be back in opposition until another election might be just around the corner.
That’s what Ian Paton told the Optimist Monday following his re-election in Delta South in last Saturday’s (Oct. 19) super-tight provincial election.
“People are telling me how it would be a good thing if I was Minister of Agriculture and people are also telling me it’s too bad, I didn’t run as an independent. But, if I did, and the Conservatives form government, I would have been sitting in opposition again. Now, I don’t know if I will get the chance. Maybe, I just might, depending on the recounts and final number,” he said.
According to Elections BC, with all the advance and Final Vote Day ballot boxes were counted, Paton, who was first elected in 2017, finished with 14,234 votes, which worked out to 55.19 per cent of the vote.
His only opponent, the NDP’s Jason McCormick had 11,558 votes, equaling 44.81 per cent of the vote.
After Paton was re-elected for the Liberals in 2020, the party went on to change its name to BC United.
He was expecting to run for BC United, but ended up joining the BC Conservatives after BC United bowed out of the election, suspending the party in late August.
Noting it was a surprise the NDP got as many votes as they did in the riding, Paton said he isn’t so sure the Greens would support the NDP provincially, considering there has been a serious falling out between the two parties.
That means another election could very soon be on the horizon, something that nobody is all that keen for, he added.
As far as the race in the province, which has the NDP narrowly ahead, Paton said at least three former BC United candidates who ran as independents took critical votes from Conservative candidates.
A campaign manager for McCormick told the Optimist that none of the NDP candidates have permission to speak to the media until the election results are finalized.
