B.C. Election: 8 takeaways after a landslide Conservative win

Just under two million British Columbians had their political say on Saturday across 93 ridings.

The decision was a resounding rejection of B.C. NDP leader David Eby and his party. Eby triggered the snap election on Sept. 22, just two years into his four-year term.

Here are some take-aways from the night:

Within half-an-hour of results starting to arrive it was clear that the B.C. Conservative party had won a significant majority. Fifteen minutes later, it was official.

University of B.C. political scientist Stewart Prest said that it quickly became apparent that the Tories were leading in over 60 ridings.

“When the party is quickly winning half the vote across the province, they’re almost certain to win a commanding majority,” he said.

After the 2024 election there were 47 NDP MLAs, 44 Conservative MLAs and two Greens. As of midnight Saturday, the Conservatives had 64 seats, the NDP 27 and the Greens two.

The Conservatives won six of Surrey’s 10 seats in 2024 — Surrey North, Surrey South, Surrey-Cloverdale, Surrey-Panorama, Surrey-Serpentine River, and Surrey-White Rock.

This year, the party swept the city in stunning fashion.

Longtime NDP MLAs Jagrup Brar in Surrey Fleetwood, Amna Shah in Surrey City Centre, Jessie Sunner in Surrey Newton and Garry Begg in Surrey Guildford all lost their seats.

The Conservatives also swept in Delta and Richmond.

The blue wave travelled farther into Vancouver this election.

The Conservative party was able to win one Vancouver seat (Vancouver-Quilchena) in 2024, and this year also secured Vancouver-Langara, Vancouver-Yaletown, and Vancouver-Fraserview.

It was a double political hit for defeated Vancouver Yaletown incumbent NDP candidate Terry Yung, whose wife Sarah Kirby-Yung was voted off of Vancouver city council last Saturday.

Eby was able to narrowly hang onto his seat in Vancouver-Point Grey.

Just six months ago, Caroline Elliott was narrowly defeated by Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the race to be Conservative party leader.

On Saturday, Elliott easily won the riding of West Vancouver-Capilano, vacated by Lynne Block so that Elliot could run. Block moved to North Vancouver-Seymour that she also easily won.

Among the losers this election was former Conservative MLA Dallas Brodie, who ran again in Vancouver Quilchena as a OneBC candidate and secured less than a thousand votes.

Also, popular former Conservative Elenore Sturko finished third in Surrey South as a CentreBC candidate.

Former Green party MLA and leader Andrew Weaver’s comeback attempt failed as a candidate for CentreBC in Oak Bay-Gordon Head. The riding was won by NDP incumbent Diana Gibson.

In 2024 more than two million people turned out to vote in the provincial election, representing 58.74 per cent of all registered voters.

In this election, the vote total amounted to 1,770,371 or 47.97 per cent of registered voters. This is the first time the percentage has been below 50 per cent in at least a decade and indicates that NDP voters stayed home, Prest said.

6. David Eby shocks with swift resignation

Less than two hours after results began to roll in, Eby stood before a subdued crowd in downtown Vancouver and resigned as party leader.

Prest said Eby had no choice.

“He will be remembered as the premier who called an unnecessary election with a working majority, bet the house on orange and lost everything,” Prest said. “He was more focused on the politics of the job than actual policy and getting things done.”

On Thursday, pollster Leger gave the Conservatives a five per cent lead, with 44 per cent of decided voters compared with 39 per cent for the NDP and 13 per cent for the Greens.

This was roughly in line with other earlier-published polls. Just before the election, poll collator 338Canada predicted 45 per cent of the vote for the Conservatives, 39 per cent for the B.C. NDP and 12 per cent for the Greens.

Both in fact underestimated the size of the blue wave.

This election, the percentage voter breakdown, respectively, for the Conservatives, NDP and Greens was 48.06 per cent, 37.37 per cent and 10.97 per cent.

Green party Leader Emily Lowan won the Saanich North and the Islands riding on Saturday night.

The party won its first seat in 2013 with Weaver taking the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head.

In 2017 there were three Green MLAs elected, and two in 2024, including Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. Valeriote was able to retain his seat Saturday, giving the party two seats.

While Lowan won, the balance of power on Vancouver Island shifted. Long a stronghold for the NDP, in 2024 the Conservatives broke through by winning Courtenay-Comox and North Island.

This election the Conservative won five ridings including North Island. They did however lose Courtenay-Comox.