The provincial election took place on Oct. 19.
Final vote counting in two recounts, under the supervision of a B.C. Supreme Court judge, took place Nov. 7 and 8 in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Centre.
Normally, few would pay attention to the final stages of the vote-counting process. However, this time around, the NDP has just a one-seat majority. Garry Begg in Surrey-Guildford had just a 21-seat margin of victory when the final count began. At the end of the recount, the official margin of victory over Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa stood at 22 votes.
With that seat, the NDP forms a government without the need for support from the two Green MLAs.
(The Kelowna Centre recount continues at the time of writing.)
Incoming premier David Eby has set Nov. 18 as the date for the swearing-in of a cabinet. Meanwhile, the many issues that caused Surrey voters to flee the NDP in droves seem to be getting even more challenging. There has effectively been no government in B.C. for more than two months.
That doesn’t mean problems just go away. Housing policy changes by the past government have done nothing to boost supply. The government has picked fights with Surrey and Langley Township, both of which are encouraging housing construction far more than many other cities, for no good reason. Meanwhile, rents stay high and many people can’t afford to buy.
Nothing has happened on the school classroom front, other than more overcrowding. There is no solution in sight. The Surrey board of education has pointed out that busing, portables and numerous other costs aren’t even covered by the provincial grant. The response is crickets.
Surrey Police are taking over as the police of record later this month. The lack of transparency about this police force is astonishing. The police board is invisible, and a non-disclosure agreement the province forced Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke to sign means she basically can say nothing about the police transition.
Meanwhile, there are hundreds of people in Surrey who have no homes. Some services provided by Surrey Urban Mission Society, which helps those without homes, are being cut because of an end to provincial funding.
These are important services. One, which has recently closed, provided hygiene and laundry services at The Cove Healthy Living station on 106 Avenue. In December, SUMS may also lose its community kitchen at Surrey Welcome Hub. This serves meals to 225 people twice a day.
During the campaign, Eby (who visited Surrey many times) promised continued funding for the society’s services. Why are these closures happening?
Surrey Food Bank, Cloverdale Community Kitchen and Sources Food Bank in South Surrey and White Rock are busier than ever, because many people in this area cannot afford groceries, rent and medicine. If they pay one bill, something else has to be sacrificed. This is not right.
All the local agencies who feed people badly need donations. The government could do far more to encourage support from the public, perhaps by agreeing to temporarily match donations from now until Christmas.
Action is needed on many, many fronts, not just in Surrey but across the province. The government needs to get moving on all these issues, and many more.
Frank Bucholtz writes twice monthly on political issues for Black Press Media.
