Vernon's first NDP MLA in 36 years to be sworn Tuesday

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Vernon's first NDP MLA in 36 years will be sworn in with her colleagues on Tuesday.

Harwinder Sandhu won the Vernon-Monashee riding in a nail-biter election race that took two weeks to confirm because of its closeness.

On election night, Oct. 24, the votes were too close to declare a winner. But, when all was said and done, Sandhu ended up beating three-term incumbent Eric Foster of the BC Liberals by 424 votes. 

The final decision had to wait for the counting of 8,581 mail-in ballots, which reached record usage across the province due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Premier John Horgan says the legislature will return Dec. 7 after the NDP won a majority mandate in last month's provincial election.

The brief legislative session will begin with a throne speech that focuses on keeping people safe and the economy moving during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Horgan's cabinet will be sworn in Nov. 26.

The premier says they are still working on the details of distributing a $1,000 relief benefit for COVID-19, which the NDP promised during the election.

– with files from The Canadian Press