Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleThe BC Conservatives won the province’s October 24 snap election, and Lorne Doerkson is now premier-designate, according to a report by the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS). The outlet says the party will form the province’s first Conservative government in nearly a century. The WSWS article is strongly critical of the winning party and the outgoing government, and its judgments are presented here as its own views.
Surrey among the biggest shifts
Surrey was where the NDP lost the most, the WSWS reports. It says the party lost its four seats in the city and that the Conservatives took all 10.
Of the 19 seats the NDP lost overall, 16 were in Greater Vancouver, according to the report. The party kept 27 of the 93 seats in the expanded legislature, mostly in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. In the interior and north, it held just 3 of 25 seats, two fewer than in 2024.
Premier David Eby, who called the election about two years ahead of schedule, resigned as NDP leader on election night.
Record-low turnout
The WSWS says turnout was 48.06 per cent, the lowest recorded since 1928 and the first time in at least a decade that it fell below 50 per cent.
The Conservatives received 48 per cent of the vote, or about 860,000 votes. That is roughly 48,000 fewer than in 2024, when they narrowly lost to the NDP. The outlet calculates this as about 23 per cent of eligible voters.
The NDP took 37.4 per cent of the vote and lost more than 270,000 votes compared with two years ago, about a third of its support. The Greens were the only party with seats in the legislature to gain votes, adding about 23,000 for a total near 197,000, or 11 per cent.
Who is behind the new government
The WSWS says Doerkson was an early and prominent figure in a wave of former BC Liberal MLAs and staff who moved to the Conservatives after BC United suspended its 2024 campaign and endorsed them.
The outlet reports that Doerkson held several $1,500-a-head fundraisers at luxury downtown Vancouver hotels in the final weeks of the campaign. It says the Business Council of British Columbia congratulated the party on a “strong mandate to deliver change” and offered to be a “constructive partner.”
The day after the vote, Doerkson named Kim Henderson to chair his transition team. The WSWS notes that Henderson was deputy minister to the premier under Christy Clark. It adds that the campaign was managed by Katy Merrifield, a former executive director of the BC Liberals.
Platform and early promises
According to the WSWS, the Conservative platform includes:
- tripling the basic personal tax exemption to $32,000;
- a pledge to never raise taxes;
- hiring more police officers;
- doubling natural gas production by 2032 and tripling it by 2035;
- cutting red tape and fast-tracking resource extraction.
The WSWS argues the tax measure favours higher earners and that the no-tax pledge will mean deeper cuts to social services. It also claims the new government will deepen the Eby government’s partnership with Ottawa on critical minerals and energy projects. These are the outlet’s claims, not established facts.
In one of his first statements as premier-designate, Doerkson promised to “supercharge” the provincial economy. He also promised an independent review of the province’s finances starting on Day 1, the report says.
Source: World Socialist Web Site
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
