At 12:08 a.m.:
With only one ballot box not reported, Austin sits in lead with 5,102. Carol Leclerc has 4,739. Broussau has 735 and Hendry has 254
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At 10:28 pm, Skeena BC Liberal candidate Carol Leclerc said she remains optimistic about her chances.
She notes that advance votes are still to be counted.
"It's a nailbiter, it's neck and neck," said Leclerc of the Skeena riding race.
"Never underestimate the electorate," she commented on the Liberal win in the province.
- Terrace Standard
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UPDATE at 10:23 p.m.:
65 ballot boxes reported in of 82. Robin Austin with 3,595 votes. Leclerc at 3,205, Brousseau at 482 and Hendry at 169.
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UPDATE at 10:13 p.m.
3,482 for Robin Austin, ahead of Leclerc with 3,192 votes. Mike Brousseau has 480 and Trevor Hendry has 167.
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Robin Austin felt good, if nervous, as voting stations closed tonight.
“Each time you go to an election it’s kind of a referendum on your performance, and you wonder whether people think you’ve been doing a good job and want to keep you on,” said the NDP candidate for Skeena. “I enjoy campaigning, but I’m still nervous.”
He said the support on the street and at doorsteps was strong, and felt good about the campaign, but faced with historically low voter turnout, he was just hoping his supporters came out to cast their votes for him.
At the Eagle Centre in Kitimat, Mike Brousseau sat with supporters, but no ongoing election tally could be seen anywhere, save for individuals’ smartphones. Brousseau himself wasn’t checking.
“This province is going to be bankrupt in three to four years and I’ll pick up the pieces then,” he said, very early in the evening.
He said regardless of the government, whether NDP or Liberal, they will take the province down a path of poverty.
“To me, I don’t have a problem with this result tonight, I’m a happy, happy camper, my wife will be a happy, happy camper… and [we’ll] go back to doing what’s right.”
But he’s not saying no to future elections.
“I’m not giving up,” he said. “The children and our future are too important to give up.”
He continued, “We’re not political, we’re good people trying to help this area… Tthere’s] No sadness here.”
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UPDATE At 9:43 p.m.:
3,150 for Robin Austin, 3,076 for Leclerc. Mike Brousseau for the Conservatives at 464 votes, and BC Party's Trevor Hendry has 153.
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UPDATE at 9:33 p.m.:
Robin Austin now at 2,589 votes, behind Carol Leclerc's 2,691.
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With 43 of the 82ballot boxes counted in the Skeena riding so far, Carol Leclerc for th Liberals holds a lead with 2,365 votes against Robin Austin’s 2,197 votes so far.
Meanwhile the BC Conservatives candidate Mike Brousseau follows in third with 337 votes, and the British Columbia Party’s Trevor Hendry trails with 97 votes