Green party supporters watch as results come in from election night at the Delta Ocean Pointe on election night in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, May 9, 2017.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
A hard-fought election has cost at least four Liberal cabinet ministers their seats, signalling major changes in the legislature regardless of the final tally.
Those defeated included Peter Fassbender, who is Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and also the minister responsible for TransLink, the regional transportation agency for the Lower Mainland. Transportation was a major issue during the campaign, with the Liberals pledging to cut tolls on the Port Mann Bridge in half and the NDP vowing to get rid of them altogether.
As he took in the results Tuesday night, Mr. Fassbender said education and transit were both big issues in his Surrey-Fleetwood riding.
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"There were some very decisive issues," said Mr. Fassbender.
Mr. Fassbender was minister of education during a 2014 teachers' strike that began in June and carried on into September. Rapidly-growing, populous Surrey was a hot-spot for discontent over school crowding and students attending class in portable classrooms.
"At the end of the day, you have to accept what the people say," Mr. Fassbender said.
"I'm very proud of the team that I worked with. I'm proud of the position that we took on the issues so I make no apologies for that. And I think the people of British Columbia now need to be very vigilant - and we're not done."
Mr. Fassbender was defeated by NDP candidate Jagrup Brar. The same candidates – Mr. Fassbender, Mr. Brar and Green candidate Tim Binnema – ran in 2013, when Mr. Fassbender won by a slim 200 votes.
Mr. Brar praised the volunteers who helped him campaign and chalked up his win to voter dissatisfaction.
"The people of Surrey at this point in time are not very happy with the BC Liberals," Mr. Brar said. "They have ignored this fast-growing community for the last 16 years, whether it's education or health care."
Justice minister Suzanne Anton lost Vancouver-Fraserview seat to the NDP's George Chow.
Both Ms. Anton and Mr. Chow are former Vancouver city councillors. During his campaign, Mr. Chow focused on public education, which has been hit by labour strife and other controversies during the Liberal's tenure.
Ms. Anton, who turned to provincial politics after an unsuccessful run as mayor, has been attorney general since she was elected in 2013. As minister responsible for liquor policy, she also brought in a flurry of liquor-related reforms, including measures that opened the door to liquor sales in grocery stores.
Amrik Virk, Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizen's Services, lost to NDP candidate Garry Begg in the new riding of Surrey-Guildford.
Mr. Virk was previously minister for advanced education. He was shuffled to the technology portfolio in 2014 following the release of a government report that found he knew about a compensation package for Kwantlen Polytechnic University executives that broke government guidelines. Mr. Begg is a former RCMP officer.
Naomi Yamamoto, Minister of State for Emergency Preparedness, lost North Vancouver-Lonsdale, to NDP Bowinn Ma.
Ms. Ma, in her early 30s, is a project manager at the Vancouver Airport Authority and was the fourth female president of the University of British Columbia's undergraduate Engineering Society.
With a file from Megan Devlin.