The pre-election polls had it right this time, actually underestimating the severity of the beat-down the BC Conservative Party gave to the New Democratic Party, taking 64 of the Legislature’s 93 seats. The most generous polls had predicted a Conservative majority in the high 50s.

But Courtenay-Comox bucked the trend and elected NDP Will Cole-Hamilton in his provincial debut. The race was tight again in this evenly split swing riding, although Cole-Hamilton’s margin of victory (696) votes was more than 7 times the margin for Conservative Brennan Day to squeak into office in 2024.

“I have appreciated the opportunity to talk with people at the doorstep over these last few weeks – learning about the issues that matter to you,” Cole-Hamilton said in a social media post. “As I take on this new role, I want you to know that I will continue those conversations. I commit to being out on the doorstep, talking with community members, each and every month from now on.”

It was a somewhat surprising outcome considering the Conservative wave sweeping most of the province.

The difference this time was not vote-splitting on the right side of the political spectrum. The candidate for CenterBC, formed by former Conservative party members on a more centrist platform, managed to grab only 740 votes. That’s just slightly more than the 678 votes cast for two right-of-center, independent candidates in 2024

The biggest difference in this election was two-fold. First, Green Party support dropped by a whopping 4,320 votes from 7,202 in the last election. Second, incumbent Day lost 787 votes from his 2024 total.

There may also have been voter fatigue with the provincial vote overlapping the Oct. 17 local government election. This riding’s turnout dropped about 10 percentage points from 2024, or 5,033 fewer votes cast.

The provincial voter turnout also dropped by the same percentage, from 58.5 percent in 2024 to 48 percent this year.

Incumbent MLA and Cabinet Minister Josie Osborne held her seat in the Mid-Island Pacific riding by a  comfortable 1,615 votes. Osborne received 11,916 votes to the Conservative candidate’s 10,301 and 3,202 for the Green Party.

Some local commentators have suggested the lower turnout means that the Conservatives will govern for the next four years having been elected by just 24 percent of eligible voters. But another way to look at the Conservative victory is that 69 percent of ridings preferred a Conservative representative in Victoria.

And it’s only the number of seats in the BC Legislature that matters.

This election ends nine years of NDP governing and brings to power a party that just over a month ago had dwindled to 29 seats, was in disarray and controlled by a hard-right faction professing the code words “faith, family and freedom.”

Conservative Party leader Lorne Doerkson has promised to repeal the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s Act (DRIPA), triple natural gas production, eliminate ICBC’s no-fault insurance system and to push even harder on municipalities to build more housing units.

Doerkson also promised to remove restrictions on old growth timber logging. He frequently criticized the NDP government’s old growth protection strategies.

Voters who thought the NDP policies drifted too far right-of-center, will be pulling their hair out or setting it on fire until 2030.

British Columbia’s Constitution Act states that provincial elections are scheduled for the third Saturday in October of the fourth calendar year following the previous election. That makes it possible – if the Conservatives go the distance – that the next provincial election could again overlap 2030 local government voting.