Macklin McCall of the BC Conservatives rode a wave of Conservative popularity to win the reconfigured West sa国际传媒 Peachland riding with 51% of the vote.
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Despite spurning events such as the Greater Westside Board of Tradesa国际传媒 all-candidates forum, McCall garnered 13,192 of the 25,820 votes in the West sa国际传媒 Peachland riding.
McCall refused to speak to media on election night.
BC NDP candidate Krystal Smith garnered 7,117 votes.
Stephen Johnston, the former BC United candidate who ran as an independent, got 5,511 votes, for 21% of the votes.
Johnston was at Lakesider Brewing with his supporters watching the results on election night, where the mood went from hopeful to sombre as the night progressed.
鈥淚 thought the results would be a little bit different than they were, but thatsa国际传媒 okay,鈥 Johnston said. 鈥淚tsa国际传媒 not the day, I guess.鈥
Despite the loss, Johnston said he has no regrets about running as an independent, noting it was important for him to give people choice.
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e done everything. I possibly could to run the best race,鈥 he added.
Johnston was the only candidate to show up for the Greater Westside Board of Tradesa国际传媒 all-candidates forum.
Johnston suggested sa国际传媒 may need to switch to more of a proportional representation model so people who are going to contribute value to the province have a shot at getting elected.
鈥淭he results that we鈥檙e seeing tonight say that the value a person brings doesn鈥檛 matter. Itsa国际传媒 actually just about the party. We鈥檝e seen a lot of absentee candidates that took seats this election,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think itsa国际传媒 a disrespectful thing to the electorate to not show up, to not allow people to actually experience who you are, so they can feel confident in who they鈥檙e electing.鈥
With the NDP and the BC Conservatives in a tight race election night, Johnston said he hoped the NDP wouldn鈥檛 get back in.
鈥淚 think that the policies that they have in place are really hurting sa国际传媒 right now and we have to be very careful. If we don鈥檛 unwind some of the things that they have been doing and start getting our budget and our spending back in control, we鈥檙e going to be in a rough place,鈥 he said.
Johston said John Rustad, leader of the BC Conservatives, let the province down.
鈥淚f he had actually done what him and Kevin (Falcon), I guess, misled us to believe, which is form a strong party out of the sa国际传媒 United candidates, it would be a lopsided victory right now in the Conservativesa国际传媒 favour,鈥 he said.
With the BC Conservatives trailing by only one seat by late Saturday evening, Johston said if they form government, he hopes they鈥檙e willing to pick up some strong deputy ministers because they have a weak bench.
Johnston will get back to serving as a West sa国际传媒 city councillor and will likely return to the Regional District board.
鈥淭here鈥檒l be things in the future,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hat they are, itsa国际传媒 hard to say right now.鈥
