Lorne Doerkson leads B.C. Conservatives to majority, ending NDP's nine-year rule

Analysis

Lorne Doerkson will become premier of British Columbia after his Conservative Party won a majority government on Saturday, soundly defeating the New Democrats in a snap election that backfired on outgoing Premier David Eby. The Canadian Press decision desk called the race just over an hour after polls closed, underscoring the scale of the Conservative victory. Doerkson, who became interim leader just over five weeks ago, told supporters at a victory party in Vancouver that "B.C. is definitely blue." Eby conceded defeat and announced his resignation as NDP leader, saying he accepted full responsibility for the outcome.

Analysts late Saturday projected the Conservative Party to win 64 seats, compared to 27 for the NDP and two for the Greens. Such a result would deliver Doerkson one of the most lopsided electoral victories in B.C. history and a comfortable majority over the 47 seats needed. The win ends nine years of NDP government and marks the first Conservative government in the province since Simon Fraser Tolmie was elected in 1928. Doerkson, a 58-year-old former newspaper publisher and rodeo announcer, said serving as premier would be the honour of his lifetime.

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"Together our best days are still ahead of us my friends," Doerkson said in a victory speech set to fireworks and Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop.” He promised to get the province "back on track" and to follow through on a pledge to "supercharge" the economy. He also vowed to give the job everything he had. "And I also promise you that I won't get it all perfect. But when I don't, I'm going to tell you and then I will get back to work," he said.

A gamble that backfired

The election was called by Eby on Sept. 22, just two days after Doerkson assumed the interim leadership of the Conservatives following the resignation of Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Eby initially said the snap vote was needed to tackle the challenge posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, later pivoting to say it was needed to overcome the frustrations of governing with a one-seat majority. The timing became a major issue throughout the campaign, with Eby acknowledging voter frustration. "The No. 1 question that people ask me is why are we having an election," Eby said during the campaign. "I know they didn’t want an election right now. I hear the frustration and I understand it."

In a concession speech to disconsolate supporters, Eby said he had called Doerkson to concede and offer congratulations. "The people of B.C. have asked us to be the official Opposition which is obviously not the result that any of us wanted," Eby said. "It breaks my heart and I accept full responsibly for that outcome." His resignation as NDP leader marks the end of a premiership of less than four years. Eby is projected to win his seat in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding, a seat he has held since 2013. Pollster Greg Lyle said the election call meant the NDP was fighting with far more uncertainty, and it proved difficult to tie the unknown Doerkson to the same grievances as Findlay. "At that point, you just don’t call it and you would have a perfectly good excuse: ‘It’s not a responsible thing to call an election when there’s so much disarray in the main opposition, we’re going to give them a chance to catch their breath,'" Lyle said. The Conservatives caught their breath anyway, with most opinion polls showing them either tied with the NDP or slightly ahead throughout the campaign.

Contrasting platforms and controversies

Doerkson campaigned on a vow to supercharge the economy, pledging to bring down the record deficit with the help of growth his platform forecast to reach 3.2 per cent, a prediction critics suggested was optimistic. He promised no tax increases and to raise B.C.’s basic personal income tax exemption from $13,216 to $32,000, resulting in a $1,000 tax cut for most individual workers. In his speech, he promised to double natural gas production by 2032 and triple it by 2035, and to "cut red tape like never before." He also said his top priority would be repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. The NDP platform promised a new tax bracket for those making more than $1 million to help fund health care, price caps on some basic groceries and a training program for international medical graduates already living in B.C. Eby was criticized during the campaign for having two children in coveted $10-a-day daycare spots, though he said he and his wife paid to make up the difference with the previous cost. Both parties singled out Surrey, B.C.'s second-largest city, for special attention, pledging new hospitals and a SkyTrain extension.

The Conservative campaign was not without controversy. The party was the only one to initially field a full slate of 93 candidates but tossed two candidates for online remarks, one commenting about Hitler and the other saying the driver of a car that rammed a pro-Palestinian protest should have "reversed too." Doerkson stood by Conservative campaign director Katy Merrifield, who Eby said should have been removed over social media posts that included describing Islam as an "abhorrent ideology." Doerkson defended her as a survivor of sexual assault who commented out of anger. Nosy Mag reported in October that Eby had called for Merrifield's firing.

Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day said at the election night party that people "just want back to normal" and British Columbians were going to get “a well-deserved break from radical politics.” "I think the other part of the strategy was just stand back and let Mr. Eby keep talking, and it seems to have worked," he said. The Conservative win caps a remarkable rise for a party that received less than two per cent of the vote in the 2020 election. The collapse of BC United, formerly known as the B.C. Liberals, paved the way for its rise to official opposition status and now government.

Green Party Leader Emily Lowan, who won her seat along with re-elected West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jeremy Valeriote, promised to hold the incoming government accountable. "We may have a small caucus, but tonight we have inherited an enormous responsibility, and that is to hold a majority Conservative government to account," Lowan said. Doerkson congratulated Lowan and said British Columbians could be “grateful for her passion.” Questions remain about Doerkson's status as an interim leader, since the Conservative constitution prohibits interim leaders seeking the position permanently. The party has said it would "pursue the appropriate means under the party's constitution and bylaws and the Societies Act" to keep Doerkson on as leader.

With files from The Canadian Press, Castanet and CBC News