B.C. Conservatives Win First Election Since 1928 as Eby's Snap-Election Gamble Blows Up

British Columbia just did something it hasn't done in nearly a century. On Saturday, voters handed the B.C. Conservatives a majority government, ending nine years of New Democratic Party rule and making Lorne Doerkson, an MLA from the Cariboo who only became interim leader weeks ago, the province's next premier.

With 99.57% of ballot boxes reported, the Conservatives were leading or elected in 64 of 93 seats with 48.05% of the vote, Elections BC's election-night results show. The NDP had 27 seats and 37.38%. The Greens held two. The last time Conservatives won a B.C. election, it was 1928.

And the man who made it happen, in a way, was the man who lost. Premier David Eby called this election two years early, and it blew up in his face. Before the night was over, he said he would resign as premier and as NDP leader.

The gamble

B.C. has a fixed election date, and the next one wasn't due until October 2028. Eby didn't wait. On Sept. 22 he went to Government House, and the lieutenant governor's office said she "accepted his request to dissolve the 43rd parliament" and signed 93 writs. Order in Council 410/2026 set voting day for Oct. 24.

The timing looked shrewd on paper. In 2024 the NDP had squeaked by with 47 seats to the Conservatives' 44, Elections BC's final count shows, the bare minimum for a majority. And in September 2026 the Conservatives were in the middle of a leadership shakeup. On Sept. 17, Kerry-Lynne Findlay was still giving speeches as party leader. Five days later, the party was putting out statements signed by Doerkson.

"This cynical election is not what British Columbians asked for, but it offers our province the hope for real change," that Sept. 22 statement said. A day later the party board settled the leadership question: "When Mr. Doerkson leads the Party to victory on October 24, he will remain Leader." Bold words for an interim leader with a month to go. They aged well.

Think of it like calling a snap vote in the locker room because the other team just fired its coach. It only works if the other team falls apart. This one didn't.

The night

Eby kept his own seat in Vancouver-Point Grey, his party noted. But in his concession, carried live by CBC British Columbia, he said "it has been the honor of my life to serve as premier of British Columbia" and told supporters he would offer his resignation as premier and as leader of the BC NDP.

The NDP's own farewell post sums up what they thought they were selling. It thanked Eby for family doctors, falling housing prices and "an economy becoming less reliant on the United States." Voters went the other way and picked the guy promising to dig, drill and build.

Doerkson, who won his own Cariboo-Chilcotin seat with 76.9% of the vote per Elections BC, kept it short on X. "Tonight, British Columbians chose a new direction," he wrote. "We're doing this for our sons and daughters." In an earlier post he promised "a government that will listen, keep life affordable, and never take your hard-earned money for granted."

Drill, baby, drill, Canadian edition

The heart of the victory speech, in CBC's full video, was energy. "We will cut red tape like it's never been cut before," Doerkson said. "We will double natural gas production by 2032 and triple it by 2035." He put a price tag on it: "tens of thousands of jobs in our province and at least $6 billion a year for hospitals and schools that we all depend on."

He also pitched investors directly. "We will host a business summit next year in Vancouver that will be the envy of the world. We will welcome capital back to our province," he said, adding the line every business owner understands: "You can plan around a no, but you can't plan around a maybe."

What most coverage skips: the books he's inheriting

Here's the part the victory-party stories leave out. Doerkson isn't taking over a healthy province. Eby's own Finance Ministry, in its First Quarterly Report released Sept. 14, eight days before he called the election, forecast a C$13.8 billion deficit this year, followed by C$12.7 billion and C$12.0 billion.

Total provincial debt is projected to climb from about C$181 billion this year to nearly C$236 billion by 2028-29, and the share of every tax dollar eaten by interest on taxpayer-backed debt rises from 6.1 cents to 8.2 cents, the government's fiscal and debt summary shows.

And the kicker for a man running on natural gas: that same report cut this year's natural gas royalty forecast by C$531 million, partly to fix "calculation errors found in the Budget 2026 price forecast." In plain English, the outgoing government botched the math on the very resource Doerkson wants to triple. That's why his gas pledge isn't just a jobs slogan. It's the main way he can fill the hole without raising taxes.

What happens next

Election-night numbers are preliminary. Vote-by-mail and absentee ballots are counted about two weeks after election day, Elections BC says, and the writs go back on Nov. 18, per the legislature's dissolution guide. With a 17-seat cushion over the 47 needed for a majority, the late ballots would have to break in historic ways to change who governs.

Then comes the hard part: swearing in a cabinet, writing a budget and proving the energy pledge is a plan and not a slogan. The NDP, meanwhile, needs a new leader after its premier bet the house and lost it.

The lesson travels well beyond Victoria. When a left-wing government runs on deficits and distance from America, and the challenger runs on energy, jobs and your own money, voters will pick the challenger. Even in British Columbia.