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| Kevin Falcon addressed the BC Liberals on Saturday evening following his fifth ballot victory in the leadership race |
It took a bit longer than perhaps the front runner Kevin Falcon may have thought it would, but after close to fifty minutes of reviewing ballot results, making for five counts on the night, Interim Leader Shirley Bond read out the final results.
And with the count complete, it was Kevin Falcon who came out to the stage as the next leader of the BC Liberal Party.
The former cabinet minister who finished second to Christy Clark in a leadership run in 2011, stepped away from provincial politics in 2013.
He returns to the political scene having been the top vote getter from the first ballot on during the ninety minute Liberal streamcast on Saturday.
However of note from his victory is that he still has work to do among the membership, having had to hold off a challenge from Skeena MLA Ellis Ross, who picked up votes after every ballot, coming up short on the fifth and final result when Falcon achieved 52% of the vote passing the 50% threshold for success.
The near one year campaign for the party leadership, came to an end early Saturday evening with a victory speech from Mr. Falcon, that touched on many themes for the party membership, with occasional mentions of each of the campaign participants along the way.
The takeaway theme of his five minute address came early on, as Falcon charted the position for the BC Liberals as he takes the reins.
"To all the leadership campaigns, candidates and their teams, it has been a long campaign and all of you have been away from your homes and families. You've endured, the travel, you've endured the debates, some of the disappointments.
But none of you have ever forgotten the importance of our party and our purpose.
That BC needs and deserves a government that believes that a private sector driven economy is the best way to generate revenues so we can fund first class public services.
And that a combination of compassion and competence is the approach we need for some of the greatest challenges of our time" -- Newly elected BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon from his victory speech on Saturday night
For Ellis Ross, the contest served to significantly raise his profile not only with BC Liberals but British Columbians as well.
With a ballot result that saw him move from 26 to 33 percent he clearly had become the go to candidate for those not enthusiastic about Mr. Falcon's entry to the race, in the end the political team assembled by the former cabinet minister proved to be an unstoppable force.
For his supporters, the Skeena MLA provided a message to his followers and those who voted for him, adding his congratulations to all the candidates in the race and the new leader Kevin Falcon.
He paid tribute to his campaign team and those who worked for his campaign, taking the loss as his responsibility and his alone.
"I came in second, we actually put up the best fight we could.
Really what my team said from beginning, was they were not going to change a thing about me, they were not going to script me. It was all just my messaging, that's all it was going to be.
So we stuck true to that and we came up short. The voter's are always right, that's what they say, the voter's always right.
And told my supporters, all my team members, to all my volunteers, what I told my team tonight ... this is my fault, when a team wins, the team gets the credit. When the team loses, the coach and the captain have to take the blame.
I was the coach, I was the captain this is my loss, there is nothing more that my team could have done.
There is nothing more that my supporters, my volunteers could have done. You did everything above and beyond without a doubt.
Your passion for what we stood for, your passion for British Columbia came shining through" -- Comments from Ellis Ross Skeena MLA and second place finisher in the BC Liberal Leadership Race
Those who supported his campaign, or followed along over the last eight moths shared some thoughts of their own on his quest through the comments through his social media page.
The full address can be reviewed below:
As the new leader takes the helm, Mr. Falcon is going to find that while he looks to chart a new road forward for the BC Liberals, his past work in government will also become part of the narrative for the party as the months and years move forward.
Within an hour of his election to the leadership, the BC NDP were seemingly welcoming Falcon's entry to the political arena once again, anxious to take a trip down memory lane.
Many MLA's, including North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice noting of some of his controversial times in government, suggesting that rather than looking to the future the BC Liberals were seemingly doubling down on their past.
How the new leader navigates those choppy waters ahead will provide some indication as to whether the party has indeed reinvented itself and is now ready to seek a return to government after some significant time on the sidelines.
The full Leadership event, including the comments of interim BC Liberal Leader Shirley Bond and the new leader following his election can be reviewed from the video below.
More notes on the campaign can be found through our political blog D'Arcy McGee and our Victoria Viewpoints feature.
As the day progresses we'll also be updating our BC Liberal leadership tracker archive, which charted some of the long running campaign.
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