federal election results: liberal incumbents make victory speeches in north vancouver-capilano and west vancouver-sunshine coast-sea to sky
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the liberal incumbents in the two north shore ridings made victory speeches monday night, with a large number of polls showing they had been re-elected.
“it’s an amazing feeling,” said patrick weiler, projected-elected in west vancouver-sunshine coast-sea to sky.
in the neighbouring riding of north vancouver-capilano, projected-elected incumbent jonathan wilkinson said: “this is a good day to be a liberal, and a good day to be canadian.”
with 230 of 231 polls reporting, weiler had 37,468 votes compared with 20,726 for his conservative rival. wilkinson had garnered 36,487 votes compared to 20,722 for his conservative challenger with 218 of 219 polls counted.
over the past few decades, the two north shore ridings have swung back and forth between electing tories and grits, but have both been painted red since former prime minister justin trudeau swept into power in 2015.
north vancouver-capilano
at liberal incumbent jonathan wilkinson’s election-watch party at a lonsdale quay hotel in the north vancouver-capilano riding, chuck wootten writes a message of support on a giant wilkinson sign. photo: lori culbert
this is a fourth term for wilkinson, who has been federal environment minister and natural resources minister.
he noted that not long ago people wouldn’t have bet on the liberals to form a fourth government, although it appeared late monday to be another minority.
he said prime minister-elect mark carney is “enormously capable” to lead canada at this time of tariff and annexation threats from u.s. president donald trump.
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“i think canadians made the right decision this evening … this is the best country in the world and it’s worth defending,” wilkinson said. “the challenges we’ve had with president trump have built a renewed sense of what it’s like to be a canadian.”
there are other issues, though, that are important to canadians that the next government will need to address, including climate change, housing and health care, wilkinson added.
before this wave of red, the riding see-sawed back and forth between electing conservatives and liberals since at least 1988.
challengers to wilkinson, a rhodes scholar who ran clean technology companies, included: new conservative candidate stephen curran, a lawyer; new green flagbearer andrew robinson, a sustainability consultant in the film industry; and bcit instructor and climate activist tammy bentz, who ran for the ndp in 2021 too.
west vancouver-sunshine coast-sea to sky
weiler took this riding in a nail-biter race in 2021, but he won by a much wider margin this time.
he attributed the win to a successful ground game in his large riding, which stretches from urban west vancouver to smaller communities up the sea to sky highway, including squamish, whistler and pemberton.
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“i’m going to be the mp for everybody in this diverse riding, whether people voted for me or not,” he said monday night.
he identified key issues in his riding as affordable housing, transportation challenges and fighting climate change. he insisted he could be affective at addressing those, even as a member of a minority government.
he noted past liberal minority governments have worked with other parties to get things done in ottawa.
“i think we can find a dance partner if it is a minority,” he said.
weiler’s 2021 victory was the third straight for the grits in this riding.
weiler, a lawyer, was challenged by new candidates, who include: conservative keith roy, a realtor; 18-year-old gibsons resident jager rosenberg for the ndp; and the greens’ lauren greenlaw, a squamish councillor.
read more of our federal election coverage in these b.c. ridings:
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