B.C. Conservative’s Lorne Doerkson sets out urgent priorities to govern

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s premier-designate Lorne Doerkson’s long to-do list includes lowering taxes, while reviewing the provincial finances, working with Alberta and the federal government on the proposed Pacific Link pipeline and repealing Indigenous legislation.

Doerkson laid out his priorities at a news conference Sunday, just hours after his party was elected with about two-thirds of the province’s 93 seats in the legislature.

He said he has spoken to the lieutenant-governor and named Kim Henderson, a former deputy to the premier to previous Liberal governments, to lead his transition team.

“We are going to do this properly, and we are going to do it with obviously some urgency,” he said. “When this government is sworn in, it will be ready on Day 1, and it will hit the ground running.”

Doerkson did not rule out calling a fall legislative session, and if it were to return this year, his government would move to lower taxes.

“Our first priority for the legislature is raising the basic personal exemption to $32,000,” he said. “That is about $1,000 a year back in the pocket of nearly every working British Columbian.”

His government, he said, will also follow through on the election promise to not raise taxes or introduce new ones.

“When I make a promise to British Columbians, I will keep it, and that starts for sure right now.”

The incoming premier said his government will also launch an independent review of the provincial finances.

Current forecasts peg the provincial deficit of $14 billion and B.C. has had eight credit-rating downgrades in three years.

Provincial debt has become a significant challenge, Doerkson said.

“Our interest payment is choking our economy and choking British Columbia,” he said.

The trade conflict with the United States is the biggest economic threat facing the province, he said, and he repeated promises to supercharge the provincial economy through additional resource-projects.

“Among my first calls as premier, will be to the prime minister and to (Alberta) Premier Smith to get the Pacific Link (pipeline project) moving,” he said. “Our resources are the strongest hand that British Columbia hold and we will for sure play them.”

Hamish Telford, associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said Doerkson’s plan to “supercharge” the economy is outside of his control.

He said private companies — not Doerkson — are making the investment decisions.

“They are going to do that based on market demand, and the price that they can offer consumers in other parts of the world,” he said.

Doerkson said that he is still committed to the repeal of the Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Act.

DRIPA is “a thick piece of legislation,” that his government wants to repeal as quickly as possible because it has not worked, he said.

“Frankly, it has caused more problems to date than I think potentially anything else,” he said, noting it could be repealed in the spring session.

But Telford said Doerkson’s economic agenda hinges in part on securing Indigenous support for those projects.

“And if he repeals DRIPA, he is going to set his government off to a very bad start with First Nations across British Columbia, who are almost universally in favour of maintaining DRIPA,” he said.

Doerkson promised a government of respect for all, while speaking directly to his party’s base in rural and northern B.C.

“I know what it means when the mill closes, when the (emergency-room) shuts at night and when there’s fire on the ridge,” he said. “Under this government, you will never be an afterthought.”

He promised that he would use his first 100 days in office to set up an expert commission to keep hospital emergency rooms open and cut down wait times.

Elections BC said Sunday that the Conservatives won 64 seats but results for four of them were extremely close.

In Burnaby South-Metrotown, 66 votes divide the winning New Democrat Paul Choi from the Conservative candidate and there were 58 rejected ballots.

Three ridings that went to the Conservatives; Kelowna Centre, Cowichan Valley and Ladysmith-Oceanside, were all within fewer than 150 votes.

Elections BC says that under the Elections Act, a recount is automatic if the preliminary results show a difference of 100 votes or fewer.

The Conservative’s resounding win even drew the attention of the White House, with U.S. President Donald Trump posting on his social media account that the Conservative Party has won in British Columbia for the first time in almost 100 years.

The post is accompanied by a composite of photos of Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney, the B.C. legislature and a map of Canada with the province coloured in red.

Doerkson rejected any implications of being aligned with Trump.

“I’m an ally to British Columbia, and we should have taken the opportunity years ago to protect ourselves against these attacks,” he said.

A statement from the B.C. Conservatives released Sunday says Henderson will be chair of the transition team on a volunteer basis and will be taking an unpaid leave from the pipeline firm Trans Mountain Corp. where she took on the post of interim vice-president a year ago.

She spent more than a decade serving the previous Liberal governments of Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell as deputy minister, cabinet secretary and head of the B.C. public service.

Outgoing Premier David Eby announced his resignation as NDP leader, although he won his seat in Vancouver-Point Grey on Saturday.

Manitoba Premier Web Kinew didn’t mention Eby by name, but told reporters in Ottawa Sunday that the election results should be a lesson learned.

“There’s no partisanship in these comments,” Kinew said. “It’s all about reminding people that we have a serious obligation to take our democracy and our duties with the utmost of care.”

Doerkson said he has always started his work the moment after being elected.

“And for me, that isn’t going to change,” he said. “I intend to get to work right away. I intend work for British Columbia hard, because four years come quick.”

Eby’s decision to call a snap election two years early will go down as one of the most disastrous miscalculations in Canadian political history.

The NDP has been reduced to about 27 ridings and the Greens won two, with Leader Emily Lowan securing a seat on Vancouver Island.

Preliminary results show the popular vote went to the Conservatives with about 48 per cent of the vote, while the NDP won about 37 per cent and the Greens 11 per cent.

Doerkson emerged from obscurity when he was named interim leader of the Conservatives just two days before Eby’s fateful election call on Sept. 22.

Voter turnout figures show about 1.8 million cast ballots, representing about 48 per cent of registered voters.

A statement from the office of the clerk of the legislative assembly said Sunday that oath ceremonies for those elected won’t take place until the certified results of the general election are available, which is expected on Nov. 18.

“Arrangements will be made with the three caucuses for oath ceremonies to proceed after that date,” the statement said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2026.