David Eby resigned as premier and BC NDP leader after Lorne Doerkson led the BC Conservatives to a projected majority government in the B.C. election. CityNews projected that Doerkson will become British Columbia’s next premier after Saturday’s vote.
Eby called the snap election two years before the next scheduled vote, saying he needed "a stronger mandate to deal with the economic uncertainty brought on by Donald Trump and U.S. tariffs." He later said the legislature was "stalled out." The result moved the BC Conservatives from opposition into government and ended the BC NDP’s hold on the top job.
Lorne Doerkson and the BC Conservatives
Doerkson’s rise was fast. He moved from a little-known MLA from Cariboo-Chilcotin to board-appointed party leader to premier-elect in less than five weeks. The BC Conservatives had failed to elect a single MLA for nearly half a century before this campaign.
The party’s projected majority also changes the size of its governing room. Eby entered the election with a one-seat majority, and the Conservatives’ victory overtook that margin. CityNews said the party would form a majority government, while Emily Lowan and the BC Green Party were projected to come in third.
BC NDP after 2017
The New Democrats were reduced to Official Opposition status for the first time since 2017. For Eby, that means stepping out of the premiership immediately after asking voters for a stronger mandate, a gamble that failed to hold against the Conservatives’ momentum once Doerkson became party leader.
The Conservative Party of British Columbia also ran on a platform that would shrink the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030. Its promises included cuts to income tax, fewer barriers for new home builds, replacement of the no-fault insurance model with a hybrid system, more child care spaces, 24-hour child care for certain professions, repeal of DRIPA and expanded natural gas and LNG development.
British Columbia’s next government
The immediate question is how large the BC Conservatives’ majority will be and how quickly Doerkson’s transition to premier will take place. The election has already done the first part: it put him in line to lead British Columbia and sent Eby and the BC NDP into opposition.
