The BC election has a drastic change on the future of politics in the Comox Valley.
Brennan Day of the BC Conservative Party is the presumed winner of the Courtenay-Comox region, while Josie Osborne has been re-elected as the Mid Island-Pacific Rim candidate.
Day narrowly defeated incumbent Ronna-Rae Leonard of the BC NDP, generating 13,145 votes over Leonard’s 12,913, just a 232-vote difference.
Leonard had been the region’s MLA since 2017 and previously defeated Day in the 2020 election when he ran under the BC Liberal’s, now known as the BC United Party.
Arzeena Hamir of the Green Party received 6,987 votes, while independent candidates John Hedican and Devin Howell had 490 and 137 votes respectively.
In the Mid Island-Pacific Rim region, Josie Osborne and the BC NDP once again took victory.
Osborne, the MLA since 2020, received 13,588 votes, defeating Adam Hayduk of the Conservative Party (11,135 votes) and Ross Reid of the BC Green Party (3,276 votes).
The Mid Island-Pacific Rim region formed in 2017 and was won by Scott Fraser of the BC NDP prior to Osborne running for the region.
It’s expected the NDP will form a minority government, winning one more seat than the Conservatives.