Counting begins as polls close in British Columbia’s snap election

Eby is facing interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson, who secured his party’s top job two days before the election call in September.

It’s Green Party Leader Emily Lowan’s first provincial election and Eby spent the closing days of the campaign urging her party’s supporters to consider voting NDP to prevent splitting the vote and helping the Conservatives.

Eby initially justified the early election by saying he needed a new mandate to tackle challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

But he said Friday the election was needed to end the frustrations of a “stalled out” legislature where the NDP held a one-seat majority, and he regretted not making that clearer.

Eby voted Saturday at University Hill Secondary School in his Vancouver-Point Grey riding Saturday morning, accompanied by wife Cailey Lynch and daughters Iva, 7, and Gwendolyn, 2.

Doerkson and Lowan had already cast their ballots in advance voting.

Some voters in Vancouver-Point Grey on Saturday expressed frustration with the snap election.

“It’s very clear that they just want to do it before the Conservatives get it all together,” said Queena Li, a student who said cost of living was a key issue in the election.

Voter Finn Hanson, also a student concerned about the cost of living, said the NDP used fear of a Conservative government to gain votes.

“They don’t own our votes. It should be more like what we actually believe in, who we’re able to vote for,” she said.

The legislature at dissolution officially consisted of 47 New Democrats, 29 Conservatives, two Greens and 13 Independents, with two vacant seats.

But that does not take into account that most of the nominal Independents were Conservatives who returned to the party after Doerkson became interim leader — they may not all be reflected in the official numbers, but the Conservatives went into the election holding about 37 seats.

The campaign saw the NDP propose a new tax bracket for those making more than $1 million to help fund health care, while pledging price caps on some basic groceries and to create a training program for qualified international medical graduates already living in B.C.

The Conservatives promised no tax increases and to raise B.C.’s basic personal income tax exemption from $13,216 to $32,000, resulting in a $1,000 tax cut for most individual workers.

Doerkson said his top priority was repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

The Greens promised to tax household wealth over $50 million, to open a community health centre in every riding, and to reform the province’s oil and gas royalty framework.

Other parties contending for votes include CentreBC, led by former Conservative Elenore Sturko, and OneBC, whose interim leader Dallas Brodie is another former Conservative.

CFJC will broadcast a live special at 10:00 p.m. with guest anchor Bill O’Donovan. It will also feature analysis from a panel consisting of News Director James Peters, two-term Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake and four-term Kamloops city councillor Tina Lange.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Counting begins as polls close in British Columbia’s snap election

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