VICTORIA – Interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson says he’ll be more than an interim premier if his party wins the snap Oct. 24 provincial vote that has been called by NDP leader David Eby.
The official Opposition’s constitution prohibits an interim leader from seeking the position permanently but Doerkson says he’s running in the election to lead the province.
Doerkson has swiftly moved to reunite the Opposition’s splintered factions since his appointment on Sunday after Kerry-Lynne Findlay stepped down, bringing back legislators who quit caucus or were expelled during her brief and troubled reign.
Eby has called the election less than two years into his mandate, framing it as necessary to respond to the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade war.
But Doerkson sought to distance the Opposition from Trump, calling him “the bully south of the border” as he addressed reporters flanked by members of his caucus at a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday.
While the Conservatives have recently spent weeks shedding legislators, it is Eby who is now suffering political losses, with three cabinet ministers saying they will not run on Oct. 24.
British Columbia Health Minister Ravi Kahlon says the time is right for him to step aside in Delta North after three election cycles, while Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene cited her ongoing opposition to the NDP-backed Tilbury LNG expansion project for her decision not to stand.
Tourism Minister Lana Popham said Monday that she would not be running for a sixth term after 17 years in elected office.
Doerkson said the election call was a cheap, opportunistic political move that would cost millions of dollars.
“But you know what, I think David Eby is going to regret this. And it’s because it actually offers an opportunity for hope and real change,” he said.
“Disastrous policies have caused a flood of crime, drugs and disorder in our streets. They’ve done nothing to fix the cost-of- living crisis or to protect private property rights in this province. And worse than that, they have blown through the John Horgan surplus in an alarmingly short time,” he said, referring to the former NDP premier.
There has been a breakneck restructuring of British Columbia’s political arena ahead of the snap election.
Eby, who called it an “existential moment” for the province, went into Government House on Tuesday facing opponents who had splintered into two main factions, the official Opposition B.C. Conservatives and CentreBC, with eight legislators.
But less than two hours after Eby emerged, his opponents had forged a deal to unite, with seven out of eight legislators from CentreBC rejoining the Conservative caucus.
Eleanor Sturko said she was the sole CentreBC member who would not rejoin the Conservatives, and CentreBC later said in a statement that she had been appointed leader.
‘It’s a valued-based decision,” she said. “They (CentreBC) have a vision and philosophy I can support.”
The B.C. Conservatives said Doerkson and CentreBC’s short-lived leader Peter Milobar, who later stood alongside each other in Vancouver’s Crab Park, “have come together to give British Columbians a viable governing alternative.”
“This cynical election is not what British Columbians asked for, but it offers our province the hope for real change,” the party said in a statement.
“That is why our team has come together, strong and unified, to bring overdue change and build British Columbia back up into the province that you deserve.”
Up until Sunday, the Conservatives had been bleeding legislators, who blamed Findlay’s leadership or ideological differences as the party swung further to the right.
But Doerkson has spared no time rebuilding the Conservative ranks, having returned from a holiday in Africa over the weekend.
Not everyone is happy with the rapid reshaping of the Conservative ranks since Findlay’s exit — her husband, legislator Brent Chapman, announced on Tuesday that he was leaving the Conservatives to join right-leaning OneBC.
And Doerkson later said that Findlay had left the party and would not be its candidate in Abbotsford-Mission, where she had been poised to stand in a byelection that was cancelled when the general election writ dropped.
Eby, who has a one-seat majority, said there had not been a moment since the 2024 election when the Conservatives were not in chaos. He accused the party of going easy on Trump, whose threat he likened to a wildfire.
“When you smell smoke you don’t sit and wait to see what happens next,” he said, standing alongside his wife, Dr. Cailey Lynch, outside Government House in Victoria, where he went to ask Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia to dissolve the legislature on Tuesday.
He called for a firebreak against both the trade war and “Trump-style politics.”
Eby mentioned Trump by name more than 20 times but did not mention Doerkson even once.
The date of final voting is a week after municipal elections are scheduled, and Eby called the vote despite pleas not to do so from numerous local government leaders.
Just months ago, Eby looked politically vulnerable, after several attempts to amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples had failed, even though he had tried to discipline his caucus through the threat of an early election.
His government has also been beset by financial woes, and B.C. Finance Minister Josie Osborne announced last week that the deficit forecast had grown by $450 million to a record-setting $13.8 billion, largely because of a “calculation error” in the budget on natural gas royalties.
But recent disarray in Conservative ranks appears to have influenced the election call, with the NDP caucus meeting on Sunday to discuss Findlay’s exit and election plans.
BC Green Party leader Emily Lowan said in a statement that the snap election is costly and isn’t wanted.
“This government has offered tough talk on Trump but hasn’t delivered any real support for the people and industries feeling the pain, or implemented plans to build a local, resilient economy that could actually withstand the next shock,” she said.
“If they wanted to offer that support and stability they could do so today, instead they plunged us into an election.”
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim also called out Eby for launching a provincial election campaign when municipalities were already in the middle of local campaigning for an Oct. 17 vote.
“British Columbia has separate election cycles for a reason. That principle shouldn’t be set aside because the timing looks politically convenient,” Sim said in a statement.
Elections BC said advance voting would be available from Oct. 16 to Oct. 21.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2026.
— With files by Brenna Owen in Vancouver
