Polls have closed in British Columbia’s provincial election, and the counting of ballots has begun.
Results are expected to begin coming in earlier than in previous elections, due to new ballot scanners Elections BC has implemented this year.
Find comprehensive election results here as they come in.
This marks the end of a divisive and unprecedented campaign driven by partisan attacks as much as by policy.
It also appears to be headed for a photo finish. Final polling conducted exclusively for Global News on Friday had the BC NDP ahead of the BC Conservatives by just two per cent.
That marked a dramatic change from just one year ago. In October 2023, the NDP appeared on track to cruise to an easy win, with the Official Opposition BC United and upstart BC Conservatives each polling at about 20 per cent.
But the race was turned on its head in late August when, following a disastrous rebranding from the BC Liberals and months of dismal polling and a wave of defections, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon pulled his party from the race and threw his weight behind the BC Conservatives in a bid to defeat the NDP.
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When Falcon quit, there were just 12 BC United MLAs running for re-election, after the party won 28 seats in 2020. The consolidation on the right side of the political spectrum kicked off a two-month sprint with the NDP and Conservatives polling neck and neck.
It also saw the unprecedented entry of 40 independent and unaffiliated candidates into the campaign, many of them BC United incumbent MLAs or candidates who weren’t invited into the Conservative Party. Those candidates could prove to be an X-factor in many ridings and will be something to watch as results pour in.
The race is unprecedented in several other ways. It’s the BC Conservatives’ first serious shot at power; the party hasn’t formed a government in B.C. since 1928. And while the Conservatives have been polling at or above 40 per cent, it remains to be seen if the new party will be effective at translating that support to actual votes at the ballot box.
This was also the first election as leader for both NDP Leader David Eby and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad.
The at-times bitter campaign saw both leaders attempt to paint their opponent as radical and a risk to the province. The NDP focused much of its campaign on controversial comments and conspiracy theories espoused by Conservative candidates and, at times, Rustad himself.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, focused on crime and the province’s drug crisis which it portrayed as the direct result of NDP’s “soft on crime” policies.
Along with the negative attacks, the parties offered British Columbians radically different visions for the future of the province.
The NDP offered continuity of its centre-left style of government — with some key changes. The party said it would forge on with housing policies that include an increase in densification and restrictions on short-term rentals, more support for public health-care, education and child care, maintain its public no-fault auto insurance system and expand counselling and education assistants in public schools.
Eby, however, has committed to scrapping the province’s consumer carbon tax if Ottawa removes the requirement and to expanding the use of involuntary care for people with severe brain injuries, mental health and addiction issues.
The BC Conservatives, by contrast, ran on a platform of major change, including scrapping the SOGI-123 anti-bullying school resource, scrapping the carbon tax, ending drug decriminalization and “safe supply,” ending ICBC’s monopoly, opening parts of the health-care system to privatization.
Find your candidates and riding here.
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