Sunday October 20, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
More than half the voters in Langford-Highlands marked their ballot for BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar in the 43rd BC provincial election.
Elections BC shows these October 19 election night results for Langford-Highlands:
- Ravi Parmar BC NDP: 10,940 votes (51.45%)
- Mike Harris BC Conservative: 8,038 votes (37.80%)
- Erin Cassels BC Green: 2,286 votes (10.75%)
Robust campaign:
Parmar ran a well-organized BC NDP campaign. He had strong party staff support together with his long-time local team and a broad contingent of volunteers.
There was no lack of print marketing; some households received as many as five flyers (either at the door or by postal mail). Campaign signage was prominent around the neighourhoods.
Parmar and his team did a lot of door-knocking and he participated in some community events including meet-and-greets at a local coffee shop.
“To the voters of Langford-Highlands, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I am honoured to have earned your trust once again and to continue the tradition of service you expect of your MLA. Thank you for believing in me – let’s get to work!,” said Parmar in social media today.
Leading up to the 28-day campaign:
The 28-day official BC election campaign period was just the high watermark of Parmar’s non-stop work to engage with the community over the past 14 months.
After being elected as MLA in the June 2023 by-election (in what was then called Langford-Juan de Fuca) Parmar pursued a non-stop effort to meet with most of the municipal, business and non-profit leaders in the region. Until the writ dropped on September 21 that campaign footprint also included Sooke and Juan de Fuca.
Nearly every day for over a year Parmar’s image has been in social media with selfies or statements about announcements or meetings with leaders in the community.
Parmar of course also had a firm base of connections through the west shore region by having been on the SD62 school district board of education for nearly 10 years during 2014 to 2023 (six of those years as board chair).
Parmar has already held a cabinet position as Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials. It will be interesting to see what portfolio he handles next if Premier David Eby can sort out a BC NDP government and cabinet.
Election night cliff-hanger:
The BC NDP achieved 46 seats in October 19 election — one seat shy of a majority; the BC Conservatives won 45 seats.
Fifty or more seats would be a more comfortable margin to ensure legislative success (as one MLA needs to be appointed as a non-voting speaker). There will be two official recounts this week (in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre) which at best would only confirm what appears to be NDP seats.
Eby will need to woo the BC Greens for the support of their two MLAs as elected last night, possibly formalizing that support with a Supply and Confidence Agreement (as former Premier John Horgan did between the NDP and the Greens in 2017).
Party line:
Most of Parmar’s campaign was about presenting the provincial party’s positions on all the big issues including affordability, health-care and housing.
He listens with a trained political ear and is always ready to engage.
Long-haul:
Parmar is in this for the long-haul. He’s a career politician who has learned from the best including former Premier John Horgan (BC NDP MLA in the Langford/Sooke area for 18 years before Parmar) and Moe Sihota (BC NDP MLA in the same region before that). This year both Horgan and Sihota were recipients of the King Charles III Coronation Medial for their community service.
If there was ever a solid bet for a BC NDP candidate to win it’s Parmar, though he didn’t seem to take that for granted and worked hard on the campaign.
Conservative competition:
In the 2024 election race Parmar was up against Mike Harris of the BC Conservatives. That’s a repeat of the June 2023 by-election.
Harris has been a resident of Langford for four years; he drew out the local Langford business community vote on October 19.
Harris boosted his local base in this campaign. About 60 people dropped by to the Harris campaign office in Langford last night as election results rolled in on a big-screen TV.
Harris is a key player in the Rustad conservative movement in BC. Rustad made a quick campaign visit to the Mike Harris campaign office on October 10.
Local Greens:
Election results for BC Green Langford-Highlands candidate Erin Cassels showed a solid Green-voter turnout. The businesswoman and young mother of four is brand new to politics and only campaigned for the last three weeks leading up to October 19.
But Cassels appears to be ‘hooked’; last night at the BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau’s election night event she told Island Social Trends that she is looking forward to more. She was one of the BC Greens who delivered brief remarks at the podium.
Cassels was joined by BC Green campaign co-chair Adam Olsen at a meet-and-greet during the campaign in Langford; she is clearly a party hopeful.
===== RELATED:
- Don’t be that voter who lets rain spoil the result (October 19, 2024)
- Parmar: too much on the line if people vote other than BC NDP (October 17, 2024)
- Who’s gonna win BC Election 2024? (October 16, 2024)
- BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar on the Langford-Highlands campaign trail (September 29, 2024)
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