While every major party has taken a turn owning the Northwest Territories, the NDP have had it the longest. First Ethel Blondel and then Dennis Bevington had a stranglehold on the place.
Liberal Michael McLeod walked in when the 2015 election was called and the Liberals were swept to power.
The politicians from Fort Providence have defended it since.
“We were hoping we would have a majority,” McLeod said. “If we ever needed a new mandate it is now, during a pandemic. I’m hoping we will be able to move forward the many issues that are in our platform.”
It was a tight race with only mail-in ballots left to be counted. McLeod narrowly succeeded in beating Conservative candidate Lea Mollison who was a parachute candidate.
In the Yukon, the territory’s former chief doctor who managed the pandemic was elected for the Liberals.
Dr. Brendan Hanley took a leave from his job as chief medical officer to take a run at federal politics.
He’s replacing Liberal Larry Bagnell who won the last six of seven elections for the Liberals.
In Edmonton, Metis leader Blake Desjarlais is leading in the riding of Edmonton-Griesbach but mail-in ballots are still being counted.
Watch Lee Wilson’s story about B.C. here:
To the west, 42 seats were up for grabs.
Not many seats changed hands but some are still too close to call.
That includes Vancouver-Granville, the seat once held by Jody Wilson-Raybould who was banished from the Liberal party after the SNC Lavalin scandal and held the seat as an Independent in 2019.
As of this posting, Liberal Taleeb Noormohamed was leading by a slim margin over NDP candidate Anjali Appadurai.
In Nanaio-Ladysmith, NDP candidate Lisa Marie Baron is leading over Conservative Tamara Kronis. Paul Manly, the Green candidate and incumbent is in third.
Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief for B.C. Terry Teegee sees a minority government as the best outcome.
“I think that’s the best result for First Nations and Indigenous people couniting the work that needs to get done,” Teegee said. “You know, we have seen some success over the last 19 months in the implementation or the passing United Nations Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the number of issues that were brought forward by First Nations.”
