British Columbia has a new government. Lorne Doerkson’s Conservatives won a majority in the province’s October 24 provincial election, ending nine years of New Democratic Party (NDP) rule — and Premier David Eby resigned as NDP leader on election night after the snap election he called backfired.
The result gives British Columbia its first Conservative government in nearly a century. It also turns one of the province’s biggest recent political gambles into a cautionary tale: Eby called the vote two years early, hoping to strengthen a one-seat majority. Instead, voters handed that majority to his opponents.
What happened
CTV News was first to declare a Conservative majority on Saturday night, and the scale of the win was clear within hours. Early returns put the Conservatives leading or elected in 62 of the province’s 93 ridings, with the NDP on 29 and the Greens on 2. Later reports put the Conservative total at 64 and the NDP at 27, with the Greens still on 2. Either way, the Conservatives cleared the 47 seats needed for a majority by a wide margin.
| Party | Seats (early returns) | Seats (later reports) |
|---|---|---|
| Conservatives | 62 | 64 |
| NDP | 29 | 27 |
| Greens | 2 | 2 |
The final certified count may still move individual seats by a small margin, but it cannot change the outcome: the Conservatives have a majority, and the NDP moves into opposition.
The contrast with 2024 is stark. In that election, the NDP won 47 seats — the bare minimum for a majority — while the Conservatives took 44 and became the official opposition. Two years later, those numbers have almost exactly reversed, and then some.
Why Eby called an election he did not need to call
Eby did not have to go to voters until autumn 2028. He chose to call a snap election in early September, less than two years into his mandate, and his stated reason was the threat to British Columbia from trade tensions with the United States under President Donald Trump. He described the moment as existential and spoke of building a “firebreak” around the things that matter most to British Columbians.
The political calculation was just as important. When Eby raised the idea, the Conservatives were in turmoil under then-leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, with near-daily defections and internal division. A weakened, leaderless opposition looked like an opportunity to turn a one-seat majority into a comfortable one.
That calculation collapsed within days. Doerkson was installed as interim leader, the party’s internal fighting stopped almost immediately, and ousted members rejoined. Eby called the election just two days after Doerkson took over — and went ahead even as the opposition coalesced around its new leader.
In the campaign’s only televised leaders’ debate, the opening question — why call an election at all — proved the hardest for Eby to answer. Doerkson argued that Eby had seen an opportunity for himself, while pointing to a record provincial deficit and worsening public services as evidence that nine years of NDP government had not delivered enough.
How Doerkson won
Doerkson, 58, is one of the most unlikely premiers in British Columbia’s history. A former newspaper publisher and financial consultant who has represented the rural Cariboo-Chilcotin riding since 2020, he became interim Conservative leader only weeks before the campaign, after Findlay’s resignation. He had never led a party into an election before.
His campaign message was simple: super-charge the economy. He promised no tax increases, a rise in the basic personal income tax exemption from $13,216 to $32,000 — worth about $1,000 a year for most individual workers — and growth his platform forecast at 3.2 per cent, a figure Eby and other critics called optimistic. He also promised to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, cut regulations, and temporarily remove the 10 per cent provincial sales tax on Canadian liquor.
The geographic pattern of the win tells its own story. The Conservatives flipped at least 11 ridings the NDP had held, nearly all of them in the Lower Mainland, with Surrey and the Tri-Cities among the areas that moved most. Those are suburban communities where housing costs, public safety concerns and the visible effects of the drug crisis were felt most sharply — and where the Conservative argument that the government had run out of answers landed hardest.
“We are going to super-charge British Columbia,” Doerkson told a roaring crowd in his victory speech.
What Eby said when he conceded
Eby appeared just before 9:30 pm Pacific Time at the NDP’s election-night gathering to concede. He told supporters he accepted full responsibility for the outcome and remained proud of his record, pointing to a higher minimum wage, the response to US tariffs and new public works projects. In a message to party supporters afterwards, he listed a million more people connected to a family doctor, housing prices falling faster than anywhere else in Canada, and an economy becoming less reliant on the United States.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as Premier of British Columbia,” he said, announcing that he would offer his resignation as NDP leader once the new caucus and provincial council had time to choose an interim leader.
There was one personal consolation on a brutal night: Eby narrowly held his own Vancouver-Point Grey riding, defeating Conservative challenger Alex McMillan by fewer than 550 votes. He won his seat and lost his province.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Doerkson and thanked Eby, saying he looked forward to working with the new premier on building more homes, unleashing Canada’s potential as an energy superpower, and building a stronger British Columbia and a stronger Canada.
What Doerkson promised — and what he inherits
The new government takes over a province facing a record deficit. British Columbia’s September financial update forecast a $13.8-billion deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, after several years of significant operating deficits. The Conservatives have promised to grow the economy, cut administrative spending and cut taxes, with more than $11 billion in tax relief and extra revenue from stronger growth in their platform — yet their own plan still projects a deficit of about $10.8 billion in 2029-30, with no balanced budget in its four-year outlook.
Health care was one of the campaign’s biggest issues, with many British Columbians struggling to find a family doctor or facing long waits for treatment. The Conservatives have promised to maintain public health care funding, recruit more doctors and nurses, create a $50-million emergency fund for rural medical practices, expand medical training, recognise international credentials faster, and set up an expert commission within the first 100 days to examine wait times. They have also proposed publicly funded treatment at private facilities when surgical wait-time benchmarks are exceeded, while insisting health care will remain universal and publicly funded.
On Indigenous rights, Doerkson has said his top priority would be repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), passed unanimously in 2019, along with Section 8.1 of the Interpretation Act. The Conservatives argue the framework has created uncertainty for businesses, investors and resource development. Indigenous leaders have strongly opposed previous proposals to suspend or amend the legislation, and repealing it would not remove the constitutional rights of First Nations or the Crown’s duty to consult — so this promises to be one of the new government’s most contested early fights.
Transport is another test. The Broadway Subway extension is on track to open in 2027 and the 16-kilometre Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension is expected to begin service in late 2029. The Conservatives have pledged to work with Ottawa to extend SkyTrain south along King George Boulevard to Newton Town Centre, and to replace the George Massey Tunnel with a new 10-lane bridge instead of the NDP’s eight-lane replacement tunnel plan.
What happens next
Doerkson must now turn an interim leadership into a governing premiership: form a cabinet, set out a legislative programme, and show that a party that was in crisis weeks before the campaign can govern steadily for four years. The NDP, meanwhile, must choose an interim leader and then a permanent successor to Eby, and rebuild after its worst result in 25 years.
The deeper question is whether the Conservative platform’s arithmetic holds. Growth, tax cuts and deficit reduction are easy to promise together in a campaign and hard to deliver together in government. Voters who rewarded Doerkson for promising change will judge him on the same practical tests — family doctors, housing costs, wait times and public safety — that undid his predecessor.
An election changes who makes the decisions. It does not automatically resolve the problems. The next four years will show how much of the Conservative agenda becomes measurable progress, and how quickly British Columbians decide whether the gamble they rewarded was worth it.
Read more in the World section.
Timeline
- Mid-2017: The NDP, led by John Horgan, forms government with Green support, ending 16 years of BC Liberal rule.
- October 2020: Horgan wins a majority in a snap election during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 2022: Horgan steps down for health reasons; David Eby succeeds him as premier and NDP leader.
- October 2024: The NDP wins a bare 47-seat majority; the Conservatives take 44 and become the official opposition.
- September 2026: Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigns as Conservative leader; Lorne Doerkson is installed as interim leader.
- Early September 2026: Eby calls a snap election, two days after Doerkson’s installation, citing US trade threats.
- October 2026: The leaders’ debate puts the election call itself at the centre of the campaign.
- October 24, 2026: Voters go to the polls; CTV News declares a Conservative majority on Saturday night.
- October 24, 2026 (evening): Eby concedes, accepts full responsibility and announces his resignation as NDP leader; Doerkson declares victory.
- October 25, 2026: The scale of the Conservative majority — 62 to 64 seats — and the end of nine years of NDP rule are confirmed in post-election reporting.
Frequently asked questions
Who won the British Columbia election in 2026?
Lorne Doerkson’s Conservatives won a majority, with early returns showing 62 of 93 seats and later reports putting them at 64. The NDP fell to 27-29 seats and the Greens held 2.
Why did David Eby resign?
Eby resigned as NDP leader on election night after the snap election he called backfired. He said he accepted full responsibility for the outcome.
Why did Eby call a snap election?
He cited trade threats from the United States and said the legislature was not working well enough to deliver major changes, but he also hoped to turn a one-seat majority into a larger one while the Conservatives were divided. The Conservatives united behind Doerkson instead.
Who is Lorne Doerkson?
Doerkson, 58, is the interim Conservative leader, a former newspaper publisher and financial consultant, and the Cariboo-Chilcotin representative since 2020. He is set to become British Columbia’s premier.
What is the first Conservative government in British Columbia in nearly a century?
The Conservatives last formed government in the late 1920s and early 1930s, so Doerkson’s win ends a drought of nearly 100 years — the party’s first majority since 1928, according to post-election reporting.
What will the new BC government do first?
Its stated priorities include tax cuts, expanding LNG production, cutting regulations, health care recruitment and a wait-times commission, and repealing DRIPA — all against a forecast $13.8-billion deficit that will test its economic promises.