B.C. Conservatives sweep Surrey ridings

The B.C. Conservatives dominated the provincial election on Saturday night, winning 63 of the 93 seats in the legislative assembly.

The landslide extended to Surrey, where the party won all 10 ridings including four seats held by the NDP. Conservative candidates un-seated incumbents like Jagrup Brar, who held office for 14 years, and Jessie Sunner who was the former minister of post-secondary education and future skills.

Many called Surrey a battleground and both the Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson and then-NDP leader David Eby spent time campaigning in the city.

While last election had many close races, this time Conservative candidates had comfortable leads over their opponents. In Surrey City-Centre, the closest race in the city, Zeeshan Wahla won by 395 votes over NDP incumbent Amna Shah.

Even the hotly contested Surrey-Guildford riding went to Garry Thind who beat out incumbent Garry Begg by 1,472 votes. Thind was also recently re-elected to the Surrey School Board — a seat he has held for 12 years. An MLA cannot also hold a seat in a local elected office, meaning that Thind’s resignation from the school board could trigger a byelection.

Newly-elected Mayor Doug McCallum also showed support for the Conservatives by attending a rally in Surrey a few days prior to the election. His support for the party likely came from their commitment to build a Newton SkyTrain expansion and new hospital — both things McCallum campaigned on heavily.

Voter turnout this year also suffered. In the 2024 provincial election, almost 59 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots — this year it was 48 per cent.

Eby’s decision to call a snap election after two years was widely unpopular and seen as unnecessary — especially as it overlapped with the municipal elections. While the NDP had a slim majority in the legislature, Eby said it was difficult to govern with the Conservatives attempting to bring down the government 13 times in two years — resulting in some NDP MLAs having to vote from hospital beds.

Not only did this argument not seem to resonate with voters, but as the ruling party for nine years, the NDP has faced waning popularity as the party has cut public service jobs, halted health care expansions and abandoned a pledge to offer a $1,000 grocery rebate.

Eby won his riding of Vancouver Point-Grey, but said during his concession speech that he is stepping down as NDP leader.

Despite the wave of blue across the province, some have raised concern about what could happen if the Conservative party acts on promises to ban SOGI 123, repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or institute sweeping tax cuts which could cost the province $4 billion in revenue.

During the campaign, the Conservatives also came under fire for their campaign director’s anti-Islam posts, as well as candidates being criticized for anti-LGBTQ remarks, doubting vaccine effectiveness and sharing jokes that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. capital was a “lie.”