'The west really doesn't count': Election called just as B.C. polls closed — again

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 29, 2025 6:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Once again, a national predetermination telephone was made good earlier occidental votes had a accidental to beryllium considered, leaving immoderate voters feeling disenfranchised, arsenic if their votes don't matter. 

On Monday night, astatine astir 7:15 p.m. PT, media outlets, including CBC News, projected the Liberals would signifier the adjacent government. 

That was 15 minutes aft polls had closed successful B.C., and not agelong aft they closed successful Alberta. The predetermination telephone was made knowing lone the aboriginal results of the much Eastern provinces. 

This is not antithetic for British Columbians — it's surely happened earlier — but for some, it is frustrating. 

Two 100 of the country's ridings are successful Ontario and Quebec, due to the fact that that's wherever a precocious percent of the Canadian colonisation lives. Another 32 are situated successful Atlantic Canada, truthful it's truly nary wonderment national elections are called earlier occidental provinces are counted. 

But those aboriginal predetermination declarations inactive hurt, said Sherry Boschman of Fort St. James, located astir 113 kilometres northwest of Prince George. 

"It conscionable disappoints me."

Boschman has voted successful B.C. for decades and said she's grown utilized to this and worries that other occidental voters are feeling near behind; she said her relatives successful Saskatchewan consciousness the aforesaid way.

"It seems to maine similar the West truly doesn't count."

Proportional representation

Electoral reform, thing Boschman has tried to propulsion for, could beryllium a imaginable solution to the B.C.-doesn't-count conundrum, she said. 

Sharon Sommerville, a spokesperson for the nationalist run for electoral reform, Fair Vote, said the occupation comes from the information that predetermination winners are determined by the fig of seats a enactment wins, not by the wide fig of votes it receives. 

If Canada were to see proportional practice arsenic opposed to the first-past-the-post electoral strategy we person now, the percent of seats a enactment has successful the legislature would bespeak the percent of radical who voted for that party. 

"If we were to number votes, and parties would get the seats they deserved based connected the votes they received, it would mean each the ridings would beryllium successful play crossed the country," Sommerville said. 

Former premier curate Justin Trudeau had promised to determination up with electoral betterment successful 2015, but abandoned the thought 2 years later. After Trudeau announced helium would beryllium stepping down as prime minister, helium said that was his biggest regret from his clip successful office. 

Polling times

Changing the times polls are unfastened to beryllium aligned nationwide would let votes to beryllium counted astatine the aforesaid time, alternatively than starting with the eastbound and having the predetermination decided earlier the westbound adjacent starts counting. 

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Elections Canada said authorities astir elections, specified arsenic staggered voting hours crossed the country, is up to Parliament. 

"Just anecdotally, having worked during elections nether the erstwhile system, the existent attack 'levels' the travel of results to a precise ample degree," they said. 

They said the main electoral serviceman volition enactment unneurotic a study connected the predetermination and volition reply questions earlier Parliament.

'Our votes bash count'

Political idiosyncratic Stewart Prest agreed that, successful immoderate ways, getting the results of the predetermination truthful rapidly successful the West is irksome, but helium hopes British Columbians don't consciousness their votes don't matter. 

For example, helium said, erstwhile the Liberals were projected winners, B.C. could beryllium the deciding origin arsenic to whether it became a number oregon bulk government. 

"The afloat predetermination is the look of the state arsenic a whole, and B.C. is an important portion of that," helium said. "But it would instrumentality a precise circumstantial confluence of circumstances for america really to extremity the scales astatine 1 infinitesimal oregon another, adjacent though our votes bash count."