Friday, November 13, 2026
Home » BC Election Final Count Hands Doerkson’s Conservatives a 64th Seat
BC Election Final Count Hands Doerkson's Conservatives a 64th Seat

BC Election Final Count Hands Doerkson’s Conservatives a 64th Seat

by Brand Magazine Newsroom
0 comments
Elections BC's final tally flips a Burnaby riding by 64 votes, firming up a Conservative majority and showing how 47.7 per cent of the vote became more than two-thirds of the legislature.

The BC election final count has given Lorne Doerkson’s BC Conservatives one more seat than they held on election night. When Elections BC released its final results on the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 8, the party’s total rose to 64 of the legislature’s 93 seats.

The change came in a single Metro Vancouver riding, where the outcome reversed by a few dozen votes. It closes the counting phase of the Oct. 24, 2026 provincial vote. The Conservatives hold a comfortable majority, the BC NDP sits at 27 seats, and the BC Green Party keeps two MLAs.

How Burnaby South-Metrotown Became the 64th Conservative Seat

The only seat that changed hands in the final count was Burnaby South-Metrotown. The updated tally put the Conservative candidate ahead of the New Democrat by 6,570 votes to 6,506, a margin of 64 votes.

The seat moved out of the NDP column after election night. That cut the New Democrats to 27 seats and lifted the Conservatives to 64. Close finishes like this are why final counts matter in British Columbia. Ballots that are not part of the preliminary election-night results are added at this stage, and in tight ridings they can decide the winner.

The Burnaby result does not change who governs, because the Conservatives already had a majority. It does change how big that majority is, and the NDP loses another seat in a region it has long counted as part of its base.

The BC Election Final Count, Party by Party

Elections BC’s figures show more than 1.9 million valid votes cast across the province. Here is how the five parties named in the results performed:

Party Leader Votes Share of vote Seats
BC Conservatives Lorne Doerkson 928,027 47.7% 64
BC NDP David Eby (former leader) 730,952 37.5% 27
BC Green Party Emily Lowan 216,808 11.1% 2
CentreBC Elenore Sturko 31,673 1.6% 0
OneBC Dallas Brodie 28,489 1.4% 0

The gap between the two largest parties is wide. The Conservatives finished 197,075 votes ahead of the NDP, a lead of about 10 percentage points. The results identify David Eby as the NDP’s former leader.

A 47.7 Per Cent Vote Share Turned Into Two-Thirds of the Legislature

The Conservatives won fewer than half of the votes cast but nearly 69 per cent of the seats. That gap is a familiar result of British Columbia’s first-past-the-post system. Each riding goes to whichever candidate finishes first, however small the lead, and province-wide vote share is not converted into seats proportionally.

  • BC Conservatives: 47.7 per cent of the vote produced about 68.8 per cent of the seats (64 of 93).
  • BC NDP: 37.5 per cent of the vote produced about 29 per cent of the seats (27 of 93).
  • BC Greens: 11.1 per cent of the vote produced about 2.2 per cent of the seats (2 of 93).

The Greens show the effect most clearly. More than one in every nine voters backed them, yet they hold two seats. When support is spread across the province rather than concentrated in particular ridings, it seldom wins seats under this system.

A majority needs 47 seats in a 93-seat chamber, so the Conservatives are 17 seats over that line. Elections in other provinces have shown how much can depend on narrow riding results. Brand Magazine’s coverage of the recount fights that followed Quebec’s 2026 election is a recent example.

CentreBC and OneBC Finish Below Two Per Cent

Neither of the province’s newer parties made a breakthrough. CentreBC, led by Elenore Sturko, won 31,673 votes, or 1.6 per cent. OneBC, led by Dallas Brodie, won 28,489 votes, or 1.4 per cent.

Together they drew a little more than 60,000 votes, about 3 per cent of the provincial total, and won no seats. Both leaders are familiar figures in B.C. politics, but name recognition did not turn into a riding win anywhere in the province.

This matters beyond the two parties. In some ridings, a few thousand votes for a smaller party can affect the race between the front-runners. In the Fraser Valley, CentreBC ran in one of the two Chilliwack ridings but not the other.

Chilliwack North and Chilliwack-Cultus Lake: Fraser Valley Margins Widen

The final count also confirmed decisive results in two Chilliwack-area ridings. In both, the winning candidate took close to 60 per cent of the vote.

Riding Candidate Votes Share
Chilliwack North Heather Maahs (winner) 11,149 59.08%
Chilliwack North Adila Shaukat (NDP) 6,299 33.38%
Chilliwack North Dan Grice (CentreBC) 1,422 7.53%
Chilliwack-Cultus Lake Á’a:líya Warbus (winner) 13,399 59.74%
Chilliwack-Cultus Lake Kelli Paddon (NDP) 9,028 40.25%

Chilliwack North: Heather Maahs won by 4,850 votes over the NDP’s Adila Shaukat. CentreBC’s Dan Grice won 7.53 per cent, one of the stronger local showings for a party that took 1.6 per cent province-wide.

Chilliwack-Cultus Lake: This was a straight two-way race, with no Green or CentreBC candidate on the ballot. Á’a:líya Warbus beat the NDP’s Kelli Paddon by 4,371 votes. That is roughly double her 2024 margin in the same riding, when she won by 2,290 votes.

A winning margin that nearly doubles in two years is one measure of how far the vote shifted. In 2024 the provincial result was much closer. This time, ridings that were once competitive were won comfortably.

What a Lorne Doerkson Majority Means at the Legislature

A 64-seat majority gives Doerkson’s government more room than a narrow majority would. As a matter of general parliamentary practice, a majority government can pass budgets and legislation and win confidence votes without support from other parties. A large majority also lowers the risk that by-elections, illness or a few dissenting members could threaten its control of the house.

The arithmetic also limits what the opposition can do. With 27 seats, the NDP is the clear Official Opposition, but it cannot block government business by itself. The Greens’ two MLAs matter less than they would in a closely divided legislature, where a handful of votes can decide whether a bill passes.

The source results do not include the new government’s legislative plans, cabinet appointments or the date the legislature will sit. Readers should watch for official announcements on those points instead of relying on early speculation. Brand Magazine’s guide to how breaking news in Canada unfolds and how to follow it well has practical advice on telling confirmed updates apart from rumours.

An NDP Opposition Rebuilding From 27 Seats

For New Democrats, the final count adds another loss to an already difficult result. The party won 730,952 votes, a substantial base, but losing Burnaby South-Metrotown by 64 votes leaves it with 27 seats. The results describe David Eby as the party’s former leader, which points to a leadership transition as the party rebuilds in opposition.

In plain numbers, the province has moved decisively to the right. The Conservatives finished about 10 points ahead in the popular vote, and they turned that lead into a large majority. With Elections BC’s final count complete, the seat totals are now set.

White stylized lion's head logo on a red background.
Website | + posts

The Brand Magazine Newsroom covers Canadian business, markets and policy news for brand builders and entrepreneurs. Newsroom reports are produced from published public sources such as company releases and government and regulator publications, and follow our Editorial Standards.

You may also like