Tamara Davidson is the newly elected MLA for North Coast-Haida Gwaii.
But as of press time Monday, the province-wide result of the Oct. 19 election was so close that it remains unclear whether Davidson’s New Democrat party will govern or lead the opposition when she takes her seat in the B.C. legislature.
Davidson won nearly two-thirds of the vote in the two-candidate race for North Coast-Haida Gwaii, far ahead of BC Conservative challenger Chris Sankey.
“Together we can make life better for people here,” she said in her first speech as an MLA elect, surrounded by supporters at Prince Rupert’s Crest Hotel.
Davidson is now the only BC NDP MLA elected north of Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
BC Conservative Claire Rattée won the neighbouring Skeena riding, taking up the candidacy after former Skeena MLA Ellis Ross announced he would not be seeking reelection in order to run as a Conservative in the next federal election. In the Bulkley Valley-Stikine riding, Nathan Cullen, who had served as B.C.’s minister for water, land, and resource stewardship, lost the first election of his long career in federal and B.C. politics when he was unseated by BC Conservative candidate Sharon Hartwell, a former mayor of Telkwa.
Across the province, the incumbent BC NDP were elected or leading in 46 ridings, the BC Conservatives elected or leading in 45, the BC Green Party elected in two ridings. In two ridings, less than 100 votes split between the NDP and Conservative candidates, meaning they will go to an automatic recount. Recounts may be requested in another nine ridings where the vote split was less than 500.
Elections BC says it will take until Monday, Oct. 28 to complete a final count, which will also include some 49,000 mail-in and out-of-district ballots.
Whether she serves in government or opposition, Davidson brings government experience to her new role as MLA. She has a 28-year career in the federal civil service, holding management roles in land management, planning, conservation and tourism.
While this was her first B.C. election campaign, Davidson was previously elected as the Council of the Haida Nation representative for Vancouver. In that role, she joined the Haida Nation negotiations team that signed a Haida title agreement with the provincial government this spring.
Davidson, whose Haida name is Laanas, is the first Indigenous woman to be elected to represent the riding.
Renamed North Coast-Haida Gwaii for the 2024 election, the riding has elected BC NDP candidates in every provincial election but one since 1991.