Voters in British Columbia are heading to the polls today in a snap provincial election, marking the final chance to decide the province's next government. Polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific Time, and the electoral commission has reminded anyone still in line after closing time to stay put, as they will still be permitted to cast a ballot.
The election was called on 22 September by BC NDP leader David Eby, a full two years earlier than the scheduled 2028 vote. All 93 seats in the legislature are up for grabs, and a party needs 47 for a majority. Advance voting ran from 16 to 21 October, and the final count, including absentee and mail-in ballots, will take place from 6 to 10 November.
Eby initially framed the decision as an "existential moment" for both British Columbians and Canadians, invoking the federal prime minister's description of a national "rupture" and alleging that former US President Donald Trump was targeting Canadian workers, businesses and sovereignty. Within days, however, he shifted his message toward the more familiar provincial concerns of housing and affordability, signalling a pivot to the issues that directly affect everyday voters.
The timing has drawn sharp criticism. The vote comes just one week after the province's municipal elections on 17 October, compressing a busy political calendar into a single stretch. Critics, including Green Party leader Emily Lowan, have argued that the early vote benefits the NDP incumbent by catching opposition parties off-balance. The decision also forced the opposition to reorganise rapidly, a factor that has shaped the campaign dynamics in the final weeks.
And the gamble may not be paying off. A final Ipsos poll released on 23 October put the BC Conservatives, led by interim leader Lorne Doerkson, at 44%, ahead of Eby's NDP at 39%, with Lowan's Greens at 13%. Research Co. found a similar picture — Conservatives 44%, NDP 40%, Greens 10% — and Pallas Data had the Conservatives at 45%, the NDP at 39% and the Greens at 12%. Different surveys, different methods, but the same general picture: the Conservatives are ahead, and the Greens are drawing a meaningful share of the vote.
The Conservative campaign has been chaotic in its own right. The party's leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, resigned on 20 September, and Doerkson took over as interim leader. In the final weeks, most of the MLAs who had left the party rejoined it, and seven CentreBC MLAs returned to the Conservatives, while Elenore Sturko stayed on as CentreBC leader. The Greens, meanwhile, arrive with momentum from Vancouver, where Green candidate Pete Fry won the mayoralty last weekend with 98,748 votes, defeating incumbent Ken Sim in Canada's third-largest metropolitan area.
The issues that dominated the campaign were housing affordability, healthcare access and environmental policy. British Columbia has some of the most expensive housing in North America, and both major parties promised action on supply and costs. Healthcare — wait times, family doctors, rural services — ran a close second.
What happens tonight depends on more than who finishes first. If no party wins 47 seats, the Greens, with a projected handful of seats, could decide who governs. Lowan has not committed to supporting either side, and her party's leverage would be at its highest in a minority legislature.
Results are expected later tonight, with live coverage from Global BC and CTV News Vancouver. But the final count will not be settled until November, when mail-in and absentee ballots are tallied. For now, the one certainty is that British Columbia voted twice in eight days — and that the second vote, the one nobody expected, may change the province's politics for years.
*Reporting based on SpikeToday, Global 1 News and CTV News Vancouver coverage.*