B.C. Conservative candidate Claire Rattée has won the Skeena riding, keeping it to the right to right-of-centre camp.
"I'm excited," Rattée said. "It's been a really long road, 10 years of doing this, and I'm just really grateful that people put their faith and trust in me. I'm going to do everything in my power to work now." She added, "I promise I will do my best to represent each of you."
Her closest contender, BC NDP candidate Sarah Zimmerman, called Rattée when 17 of 18 polling stations had reported, giving Rattée a 52 per cent share of the votes compared to Zimmerman's 43 per cent, or 6,167 votes to 5,280.
All seven advance voting ballots had reported.
Zimmerman congratulated Rattée for becoming the first female MLA in the riding.
"We have different perspectives, but I'm sure our paths will cross again and we'll have to work together as we move forward."
Zimmerman acknowledged the uphill battle her party faced, saying, "We knew the NDP were the underdogs going into the race. Clearly, the conservative movement we're seeing was strong."
At the time of writing, Irwin Jeffrey of the Christian Heritage Party had secured just 113 votes, under one per cent. Terry Young of the B.C. Green Party had received 376 votes, or 3.2 per cent.
Provincially, the B.C. NDP are leading the B.C. Conservatives in an extremely tight race with 44.5 per cent versus 43.5 per cent of the vote. Roughly 94 per cent of the ballot boxes are reporting.
Rattée was acclaimed as her party's candidate as was Sarah Zimmerman for the NDP and the two others, Irwin Jeffrey from the Christian Heritage Party of B.C. and Teri Young who ran for the B.C. Green party.
Rattée has a background in both business and local politics. A co-owner of Arcane Arts Inc. in Kitimat, Rattée, 32, has worked as a tattoo artist and entrepreneur for the past 13 years. She moved to Kitimat at 19 after growing up in the Lower Mainland, following a period of addiction and homelessness, during which she received assistance through a treatment facility.
Rattée served as a councillor for the District of Kitimat from 2014 to 2018. She ran unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley federal riding in 2019 and 2021.
In explaining her decision to run for office, Rattée previously said to Black Press Media, “It stems from my commitment to addressing the issues I have encountered both personally and professionally in our community. I have a deep understanding of the challenges related to housing, homelessness, mental health, and addictions, and I believe my lived experience and time on city council have prepared me to tackle these concerns on a larger scale.”
Her experience as a local business owner and city councillor forms the basis of her political approach.
The rise of the B.C. Conservative party is largely due to the collapse of the B.C. United party and the migration of its votes to the surging B.C. Conservatives.
The Skeena seat in this election became wide open when Ellis Ross, who won as a B.C. Liberal in 2017 and again in 2020, announced he was leaving provincial politics to run as a federal Conservative candidate for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding in next year's scheduled federal election.
The NDP nominated Bruce Bidgood, a onetime Terrace city council member, to replace Austin in a contested nomination race. Ross was hand-picked by then B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark.
Ross finished first with 6,772 votes or 52.23 per cent of the ballots cast with Bidgood following behind with 5,613 votes or 43.29 per cent of ballots cast. Merv Ritchie of the Land, Air, Water Party collected 580 votes or 4.48 per cent of the total.
Ross repeated his election victory in 2020 with 5,810 votes in what was a substantially lower turnout than in 2017.
Still, his tally brought him 52.06 per cent of votes cast compared to NDP challenger Nicole Halbauer's 44.45 per cent or 4,961 votes.
Independent Martin Holzbauer received 389 votes or 3.49 per cent of the total.
The 2020 turnout of 11,219 people was less than the 13,000 who voted in 2017.
