What’s ElEction impact on pipElinE?
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thE fall and risE of thE Bc liBErals
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May 17 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
Ballet Bc lands on the stage at shadbolt centre, for an unexpected performance. see page a19
Richard Lee does it again Blocks NDP sweep of every Burnaby seat at all levels Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
Wanda ChoW/neWsLeader
Burnaby north ndp candidate Janet routledge came 833 votes short of upsetting Bc liberal incumbent richard lee, who secured a fourth term.
NDP boost local ranks in losing cause Shin to join Corrigan, Chouhan in Victoria Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
In a shocker of an election result, the BC Liberals defied the pollsters and won a majority government Tuesday. That’s despite the New Democrats gaining an additional seat in Burnaby, bringing its total to three out of four. In Burnaby-North, Liberal incumbent Richard Lee was the only candidate from his party to prevent an all-out NDP sweep of
the city. By defeating the NDP’s Janet Routledge by 833 votes, Lee maintained the riding as a Liberal bastion. It was Lee’s fourth consecutive election victory dating back to 2001 when the NDP were swept from power. Over in Burnaby-Lougheed, the NDP’s Jane Shin won her seat by 523 votes over Liberal challenger Ken Kramer. The victory in the riding vacated by the retiring Liberal Harry Bloy came despite repeated questions raised by the Liberals over Shin’s medical and academic qualifications.
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The two NDP incumbents in which Routledge lost by only four Burnaby held onto their seats per cent. handily. The Greens’ Darwin Burns Raj Chouhan won his (Burnaby-Lougheed), Rick Burnaby-Edmonds riding by McGowan (Burnaby-Deer 1,883 votes over Liberal Jeff Lake) and Wyatt Tessari Kuah. (Burnaby-Edmonds) all won In Burnaby-Deer Lake, roughly eight per cent of the Kathy Corrigan was again vote in their ridings. Chouhan the victor, this time by about The two BC Conservative 700 votes over Liberal Shian candidates were also Gu. non-factors with Christine Clarke The Green Party of BC didn’t winning 8.2 per cent of the vote come close, although they could in Burnaby-Lougheed and Wayne have played spoilers in Burnaby Marklund (Burnaby North) just 522 North with Carrie McLaren taking votes, or per cent. 4x1.25_small_appliances_ad_final.pdf 1 2.64 12-03-05 1:20 PM twitter.com/WandaChow 6.86 per cent of the vote in a race in
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You can call him an island in the ocean. A bastion. Even the BC Liberals’ own Berlin Wall surrounded by New Democrat territory. On Tuesday night, Richard Lee was also a winner, for the fourth time, of the Burnaby North riding. As local politicians go, Lee said with a laugh Wednesday “it’s a little bit lonely.” His win over the NDP’s Janet Routledge, and the Liberals’ loss of Burnaby-Lougheed now makes him the only Liberal politician in Burnaby at the civic, provincial or federal levels. He seems to be the only person standing between the NDP and a complete sweep of all seats in the city. “More diversity would be healthier,” Lee said of Burnaby’s political makeup. “I will try to be a bridge between [non-NDP] people and those ideas at the other levels of government in Burnaby.”
please see ‘We Were hopefuL’, a5