Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson’s party led in 64 of British Columbia’s 93 districts after Saturday’s provincial election, putting him in position to form a government if the preliminary leads hold.
Elections BC, the province’s election agency, reported that 99.57% of preliminary results were in. The Conservatives had 861,258 votes, or 48.05%; the BC NDP led in 27 districts with 669,901 votes, or 37.38%; and the Greens led in two districts with 196,593 votes, or 10.97%. The agency says the election-night figures are preliminary.
Doerkson also led in Cariboo-Chilcotin, where he had 14,218 votes, or 76.90%. BC NDP candidate Kathryn Askew had 3,123 votes, or 16.89%. Elections BC’s final count for 2024 gave the Conservatives 44 seats, the BC NDP 47 and the Greens two. If the current district leads hold, the Conservatives would have a majority in the 93-member legislature. EconoTimes previously reported that Doerkson and BC NDP leader David Eby had campaign events scheduled in Metro Vancouver ahead of the vote.
Elections BC records show Doerkson was elected in Cariboo-Chilcotin as a Liberal in 2020 and again as a Conservative in 2024. The Conservative Party biography says he spent 20 years publishing newspapers for Black Press before moving into financial planning. It also lists small-business ownership, a Rotary presidency and rodeo announcing among his work, and says he was born in New Westminster and grew up in Surrey.
The Canadian Press reported that Doerkson became interim leader Sept. 20 after then-Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned. In an election-night speech, Doerkson called serving as premier “the honour of my lifetime.”
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia says the lieutenant governor generally turns to the leader of the party with the most seats to form a government. A separate question concerns Doerkson’s longer-term party leadership: the Conservatives’ March 2025 constitution bars an interim leader from seeking the permanent post through a leadership contest. Before the election, the Western Standard reported that the party board planned to pursue a way under party rules and the Societies Act for Doerkson to remain leader if he became premier.
Elections BC lists Nov. 6 for the final count.
