New Democrat Randall Garrison was projected to be re-elected to a fourth term in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke on Monday night.
Garrison, who was first elected in 2011, was almost 11,000 votes ahead of Conservative Laura Anne Frost and Liberal Doug Kobayashi with 227 of 241 polls reporting. There are also 8,493 special ballots still to be counted, a process that will begin Tuesday.
Kobayashi, a Colwood councillor and business consultant, said of the projected minority Liberal result: “We’re back to the same place we started.”
Kobayashi said he had just over a month to prepare for the election. Looking back on the campaign and some of the anti-mask and anti-vaccination and even anti-government sentiment, he said he found it unfortunate to see Canada becoming so divisive.
“We are becoming similar in culture to the United States and that’s unfortunate.”
