How B.C. turned blue for the first time in nearly a century.
48 per cent of British Columbians took to the polls on Oct. 24, voting in a historic Conservative government. It has been nearly a century since British Columbia has seen a conservative government, with the last one being in 1928.
The Conservatives, led by Lorne Doerkson, not only won over David Eby and the New Democratic Party (NDP) – a party that had been in power since 2017 – but also won a majority government. Of British Columbia’s 93 seats, the Conservative Party won 63 of them compared to the NDP’s 28 and the Green Party’s two, according to CBC News.
Eby announced the whiplash election on Sept. 22, which took place approximately a month later, on Oct. 24. It had been just two years since the last election, which the NDP won, leaving critics to question why Eby called it.
According to Newsweek, Eby said he called this election because the NDP needed more seats in the legislature. Last election the NDP just narrowly beat the Conservatives, and needed these seats to respond to United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs and prepare for the upcoming United States midterms. The election happened with such speed so voting could take place before these midterms.
This whiplash of an election was reflected in the voter turnout, with only 48.06 per cent of eligible voters submitting their ballots, according to CBC News. This turnout is low compared to past elections, with the previous election in 2024 having a voter turnout of 58.45 per cent. It was even lower than the election during COVID-19, which saw a turnout of 53.86 per cent, according to Elections BC.
The drop in voter turnout seen in this election is in contrast to the municipal elections that took place in British Columbia. a week prior, on Oct. 17. The municipal election saw a jump in voter turnout. British Columbia’s metropolitan city, Vancouver, saw an increase from 36.3 per cent to 43 per cent of eligible voters taking to the polls, the city’s largest turnout since 2002, according to CBC News. Vancouver was not the only city to see a jump in municipal elections. Fellow cities such as Burnaby, Delta, and Surrey also saw an increase in voter turnout.
In interviews conducted outside the polls, Global News highlighted the drop in voter turnout could be from voter fatigue due to back-to-back elections, as well as possible confusion in the contents of the election with the overlapping of campaigners.
The result of the election sent shockwaves through B.C. politics. The majority of provincial parties, aside from the NDP, have been in disarray for years, according to CBC News, with the Conservative Party among them. Historically, the Conservative Party had not gained much traction, with the Liberals and NDP dominating the B.C. political scene for most of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. According to CBC News, the Conservative Party faced “political wilderness” for many years, meaning they were not able to win any seats. They rebranded a multitude of times, with the current party only being fully formed in 2023 by John Rustad after being kicked out of the Liberal Party.
Despite winning seats, becoming the official opposition, and narrowly losing to the NDP in the 2024 election, the Conservative Party continued to face turmoil. According to CBC News, multiple Conservative Party members “crossed the floor,” essentially leaving the party to join another or become independent. As more members crossed the floor, Rustad stepped down, and questions arose over who would take over the party. Even after Rustad stepped down, members continued to leave or be kicked out of the party well into September 2026. Their current leader, Doerkson, was not announced until Sept. 21, evoking questions about whether they could even pull together a party in such a short time, making Doerkson’s win monumental.