New Democrats swept Vancouver Island in the provincial election, winning 10 of 13 decided seats.  However, in Parksville-Qualicum Beach it is still too close to call.  The NDP's Adam Walker is poised to take the seat from the only Liberal incumbent on the Island, Michelle Stillwell.  Walker is leading by less than 1000 votes, but more than 14,000 vote by mail ballots from Parksville-Qualicum have yet to be counted.  That means the final result might not be known for two weeks....
One of the earlier races decided on election night was in Nanaimo for the NDP incumbent.  Sheila Malcomson says she is confident her party has the mandate to continue strengthening the social safety net.

The NDP invested a lot of time on the island, trying to wipe out the Green Party.  However, the Greens retained both seats on Vancouver Island and took one away from the Liberals in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.  The Greens also came second to the NDP in almost every island riding.   In her speech on election night, Green Leader Sonia Furstenau sounded more like the official opposition leader than the head of a third party.

The Greens' growing popularity was not lost on Premier-elect John Horgan, when he spoke to reporters in his first news conference after the NDP victory.

The president of the BC Political Studies Association and professor at Vancouver Island University, Dr Alex Netherton says this election may mark a sea change in how politics is played here.

Meanwhile BC Liberals, who lost 14 seats to New Democrats, will spend the coming months choosing a new leaders.  Andrew Wilkinson announced his resignation yesterday, saying he will step down as soon as a new leader is named.