David Eby ready to form government, says 'we have to do better'

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says he is preparing for every possibility as he awaits the outcome of the province's still-undecided election race.

As of Tuesday, the race is still too close to call as just a handful of votes separate the NDP and the Conservative Party of B.C. in key ridings.

Both parties have 40 confirmed seats each, the Green Party of B.C. has two and there are 11 ridings that could still flip to either the Conservatives or the NDP depending on the results of mail-in ballots and recounts.

Recounts in two ridings — Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat — and a tally of 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots are set to begin this Saturday.

That means an NDP majority, a Conservative majority, or a minority for either party with the support of the Greens could be in the cards.

"We're not taking anything for granted," Eby said in a press conference Tuesday, his first since Saturday's election.

"It's pretty clear to me that British Columbians sent us, sent me, a strong message that we need to do better, in particular on issues of affordability, the challenges that families are facing, on issues of public safety in our community, and my commitment to British Columbians is that I take those lessons very seriously."

Eby said if the final count results in an NDP majority he would start working on those issues "immediately."

If instead the party comes up short, he said he is prepared to work with the B.C. Green Party, echoing a 2017 agreement between his predecessor, John Horgan, and then-Green leader Andrew Weaver to form government after a similarly tight election.

At this time, Eby said, he'd been told the Greens are "not ready" to talk about next steps but said from his perspective, "nothing is off the table" in terms of reaching an agreement that works for British Columbians.

Also Tuesday, the Green Party of B.C. announced Sonia Furstenau would stay on as leader despite losing her seat in the legislature.

Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad has also indicated interest in working with the Greens, saying Monday he had members of his team reaching out to the party while acknowledging they don't see eye-to-eye on some key issues, including resource development and the carbon tax, which Furstenau had pledged to make more robust and Rustad promised to scrap should he become premier.