Friday, June 10, 2005

Well, that's it then, Mayencourt wins

Stevenson won't appeal judicial recount
CBC News, (Jun 9 2005).

VANCOUVER – The NDP candidate who narrowly lost
in the riding of Vancouver-Burrard says he won't appeal
a judicial recount.

Liberal Lorne Mayencourt was finally declared the winner
in Vancouver-Burrard earlier this week, after a judicial
recount put him ahead of Stevenson by just 11 votes.
However, Stevenson says there are still 71 ballots that
haven't been counted – and 60 of them come from a
polling area where he says he has strong support.

Elections B.C. has called it "an unfortunate error made by
an elections official" and says the ballots were disqualified
because they weren't properly certified. They say the
decision was supported by the judge who conducted the
recount.

Stevenson has until 4 p.m. Thursday to launch an appeal,
but he says there may be no point. He says the Court of
Appeal can only recount the ballots that have already
been counted, and won't include the ballots that have
never been opened.
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NDP considers continuing fight over Vancouver-Burrard
Jun, 09 2005 - 11:30 PM

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - There may still be a
legal battle ahead involving the election results in
Vancouver-Burrard.

New Democrat Tim Stevenson -- who as it stands has
lost to Liberal Lorne Mayencourt by 11 votes - says his
party is seeking legal advice.

He says one option would be to challenge the validity of
the election in the riding.

Stevenson says at issue are 71 ballots that remain uncounted.
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Hansen happy with unemployment figures
Jun, 10 2005 - 10:50 AM

VICTORIA/CKNW(AM980) - Finance Minister Colin
Hansen is basking in the latest unemployment figures for
BC from Statistics Canada.

"British Columbia continues to be a leader in Canada in
terms of creating new jobs, and our unemployment rate is
now down to 5.7 percent which is the lowest, second lowest
ever recorded in the history of the province, that the lowest
that was actually recorded was only 5.5 so we're actually
very close to an all-time record."

Hansen says BC continues to see strong employment figures
in the construction sector, unlike other parts of Canada.
***************************************************
Statistics Canada News Release: Labour Force Survey

In May, job growth continued its upward climb in British
Columbia (+18,000). This leaves employment up 2.0%
since the start of the year, the highest growth rate among
the provinces. Most of the increase in May was in public
administration and transportation. British Columbia's
unemployment rate declined 0.4 of a percentage point in
May to 5.7%, the second lowest on record.

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