Wade Chang wins Jagmeet Singh’s riding as closest B.C. races declared

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says that despite his loss, and the loss of NDP seats across the country, the party will 'continue to fight for Canada.'

The closest B.C. races from Monday’s election have been called, with Liberal candidate Wade Chang declared the winner in NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s riding.

Chang took Burnaby Central with 21,745 votes to Conservative candidate James Yan’s 19,838. Singh came in third with 9,353 votes.

And who is the man replacing the NDP leader? According to his candidate biography, Chang is a lawyer and “social entrepreneur” who moved from Taiwan to Canada with his family as a teenager.

He studied at Oxford University and the University of Melbourne before returning to Burnaby’s Metrotown area, where he lives with his family and their pet dog, Marshmallow.

“Wade will champion progressive policies that will make a real difference in people’s lives, including strengthening local business opportunities, driving social innovation and global partnerships, protecting Canada’s social programs, investing in infrastructure, and modernizing animal protections,” his biography reads.

Other close B.C. races

Seven other ridings were too close to call by midnight on election day, but all have since been declared.

They included the hotly contested riding of Vancouver Kingsway, where NDP incumbent Don Davies, who has represented the neighbourhood since 2008, narrowly managed to defeat Liberal challenger Amy Gill, winning by just 310 votes in the initial count.

Another longtime NDP MP, Peter Julian, lost New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville to Liberal candidate Jake Sawatzky by 1,923 votes. Julian had represented the region in Parliament since 2004.

NDP incumbent Taylor Bachrach was toppled in Skeena—Bulkley Valley as well, losing to Conservative candidate Ellis Ross. While a few polling stations have not reported, Ross was leading by more than 3,500 votes as of early Tuesday afternoon.

Liberal incumbents Sukh Dhaliwal and Gurbux Saini held onto their ridings of Surrey Newton and Fleetwood—Port Kells, by 2,159 votes and 1,800 votes, respectively. Former MP Stephen Fuhr, also a Liberal, managed to beat Conservative incumbent Tracy Gray in Kelowna, with a lead of 1,077 votes.

Conservative Tamara Jansen kept Cloverdale—Langley City, defeating Liberal challenger Kyle Latchford by 769 votes.

Of the 43 federal ridings in the province, the Liberals won 20, the Conservatives won 19, the NDP won three and the Greens won one.