Scott McInnis of the Conservative Party is the projected winner for MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, following a neck-and-neck race in the 2024 B.C. Election. The final count for the election is Oct. 26-28.
Voting day results were finalized just after 12 a.m. MST on Oct. 19 as the race came down to the very last final day voting box, with McInnis receiving 8,614 votes to B.C. NDP candidate Andrea Dunlop with 7,901.
McInnis received 48.1 per cent of the 17,908 votes cast in the riding.
In an interview on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 20, McInnis said he and his team knew the race was going to be a close one.
"Watching the TV as polls were coming in, it was big swings and I could sort of see when Revelstoke came in that it was not great for us and it really tightened things up," he said. "As some of the smaller communities started coming in, we knew we had lots of support there, so it kind of sank in that we were going to be successful.
"It was a really nice moment last night, it was just a small group of us, our team and some family and it was just really nice to be able to celebrate with them, because it鈥檚 a win for all of us."
McInnis is the fifth MLA for this riding since it was first created in 1991, replacing Doug Clovechok, who served two terms as a B.C. Liberal and then as B.C. United, before announcing he would not seek re-election in this election.
A record-breaking number of voters cast their ballots during advanced voting this election 鈥� more than one million British Columbians showed up to the polls during the six days of advanced voting that ended Wednesday, compared to 671,231 in the 2020 snap election.
In Columbia River-Revelstoke, 8,336 votes were cast in , with 30,596 registered voters as of Oct. 7. In the 2020 B.C. election, 7,326 total ballots were cast in advance voting.
"I鈥檓 just over the moon grateful," McInnis said. "When I started this as a new person in politics I think I underestimated how much you rely on your team to support you along the way and that team includes your family.
"I鈥檓 just so grateful that everybody stuck by my side, especially with the turmoil that this campaign has been for our group. We never wavered and everybody had full support for me, and for that I鈥檓 forever grateful to them."
McInnis said he plans to take a couple of days to spend time with his family, and then it's "back to work." Initalliy the focus will be on the transition between exiting MLA Doug Clovechok and himself, and then waiting to see how the setup of the provincial governent will look.
The ended too close to call, with no clear winner between B.C. NDP Leader David Eby and Conservative Leader John Rustad.
"For me here it鈥檚 a couple of priorities," McInnis said. "I want the Provincial Rural Rention Incentive in place for our local healthcare workers.
"I want to get some things rolling with housing to make sure that if we鈥檙e in government, or in opposition, that houses get built as quickly as possible. Because that鈥檚 one of our biggest challenges obviously here in each community here in Columbia River-Revelstoke, is finding people places to live, so we need to get moving on that as a non-partisan issue, more than anything else."
McInnis said he wanted to "tip his hat" to BC NDP candidate Andrea Dunlop and BC Green Party candidate Calvin Beauchesne.
"I have a lot of respect for both of them. Although we are political opponents, I know there is a mutual respect, we鈥檙e all trying to do the same thing and they both ran a great campaign, so I want to thank them for that," McInnis said.
Finally, McInnis said that he wants to bring people back together in this riding, as he said the election has felt "very divisive."
"My role is going to be, first and foremost, to try and get some collective things done here that aren鈥檛 based on political alliances," McInnis said. "Whether you voted for me or not, I鈥檓 working for you now and I want to have some successes as quickly as possible for the greater good of Columbia River-Revelstoke. No matter where you sit politically, we鈥檙e all in this together now."
The final count will begin on Oct. 26.
