What a wild ride that election was! And it’s not over given that absentee ballots might change the results.

The Cowichan Valley riding made history by electing Canada’s first ever female Green MLA in Sonia Furstenau. Doug Routley was also re-elected in Nanaimo-North Cowichan for the NDP. Congratulations to them both and thank you to all the candidates for running!

Meanwhile, BC as a whole has elected what may likely be a minority government.

One Cowichan volunteers worked really hard to get people out to vote by hosting info tables in the community, canvassing, making phone calls, emailing, and even driving voters on election day. A huge thank you to everyone who helped strengthen our local democracy!

Throughout our conversations with fellow voters, we heard loud and clear why you were voting. You told us you want:

• A more fair and represented democracy - Electoral reform and getting big money out of politics are a must.
• A cleaner environment that creates local jobs - Stopping the Kinder Morgan pipeline and shifting to renewable energy were top of mind.
• Action on affordable housing and restored funding for education, healthcare and other social services.
• More cooperation between all levels of government – Control over our watersheds was a common concern especially water storage for the Cowichan River and avoiding situations like the Shawnigan soil fiasco.

We now have a real shot at progress on many of these issues.

We look forward to working with our local MLAs to make this happen, and look forward to our Cowichan MLAs working together in a minority legislature.

We’re excited for change!