Conservative Tamara Jansen has been declared the winner of Cloverdale-Langley City, unseating incumbent Liberal John Aldag in a close race that seesawed back and forth several times during vote counting.
With 82.93 per cent of the vote counted, Jansen was ahead 16,980 to Aldag’s 16,285.
Jansen’s socially conservative views became an issue in the dying days of the campaign. Aldag criticized Jansen for language comparing hospices that allowed medical assistance in dying to “death camps,” comments she made during a protest at the B.C. Legislature last year.
Jansen, from a family of greenhouse owners who run Darvonda Nurseries in Langley, pledged her support for bringing SkyTrain to Langley City during the campaign.
The NDP’s Rae Banwarie was in third with more than 8,600 votes.