00:10:06.580Tonight, you do not need to go anywhere else.
00:10:09.560We have the maps, we have the projections, we have the live seat counts, and we have the interviews, the speeches, everything you would want we have right here broadcasting right alongside our friends here in the B.C. Conservative Party election night room.
00:10:23.880We'll take you through the races that matter, we'll speak to the people behind the campaigns, and bring you results as British Columbians choose their next government.
00:10:33.320But first, if you are a registered B.C. voter and you haven't yet cast your ballot,
00:10:38.220be sure to get in line, get your ID, get yourself to the nearest polling station,
00:10:42.520get in line before polls close at 8 o'clock Pacific time.
00:10:46.160You still have time to vote if you're in line.
00:10:48.920We'll be here with you, take us with you on your phone,
00:10:51.680but just get in line and make sure you cast that ballot.
00:10:54.200This has been an extraordinary road to election night, gentlemen.
00:10:57.280Well, when Juneau News hosted the B.C. conservative leadership debate
00:11:01.600A few months ago, back in April, we told you that the next premier, it was actually moderated by you,
00:11:07.060we said the next premier was going to be on that stage, and boy, were we ever wrong.
00:11:12.520I thought Albertan politics were crazy, but British Columbian politics have really taken us for a loop.
00:11:18.280Carrie Lynn Finley won that leadership race by a razor-thin margin,
00:11:22.020and then came some defections and an internal revolt,
00:11:25.240and what I call a coup really from the party's centrist wing
00:11:30.540against the leader that its memberships just elected.
00:11:34.300And now, after Carolyn Finley resigned, we have Lorne Dirksen running the party,
00:11:40.600which Lorne Dirksen has turned out to actually be like a pretty competent Scott Moe-type figure,
00:11:46.200a really steady hand when David Eby was hoping that it was going to be a disaster.
00:11:51.240He was hoping to capitalize on the disarray that he saw the Conservative Party in.
00:11:56.040And really, I think we're going to see tonight if that backfired on him completely.
00:12:00.420Tonight, we're going to find out whether that gamble pays off
00:12:03.080or whether or not British Columbians are going to give him another opportunity to run this province.
00:12:07.740And once polls close, we'll be following this election seat by seat.
00:12:11.480We'll tell you who's leading, who has won, which races remain too close to call.
00:12:15.900There are 93 seats in the legislature.
00:12:17.68047 is the number you are going to be watching out for.
00:12:23.600And the Juneau News Decision Desk will call the election as soon as it has the evidence and the confidence to make that call.
00:12:30.120Every number on tonight's map represents a community and people making decisions about the cost of living, the safety of their streets, their health care and their future.
00:12:41.180So that's the story that we're here to tell.
00:12:43.920We're here alongside a lot of mainstream media.
00:12:47.120We are the only independent newsroom here on a riser in the room where the next premier could be elected here soon in the next couple hours.
00:12:56.540So my request to you is that you share this stream with your friends, this broadcast, whether it's on YouTube, Rumble, Twitter, wherever you are.
00:13:05.900Whoever might want to see what is going on in British Columbia, please share this as far and wide as you can so that we can actually share the news as it's happening.
00:13:16.160but also, most importantly, not leave it to people who are in the bailout media to tell us what to think.
00:13:21.720So, without further ado, I want to get into our coverage of tonight
00:13:25.080and talk with Aaron, Member of Parliament Aaron Gunn, about what you saw on the campaign trail.
00:13:30.360Obviously, your job is in Ottawa, but you've been here a lot of the time.
00:13:34.400Yeah, well, we had some riding weeks or break weeks here in the last month,
00:13:39.380but it's been very interesting to watch, Kean,
00:13:42.240because I think what you've seen over the course of the campaign,
00:13:46.160is the momentum of the B.C. Conservative Party really beginning to take hold.
00:13:49.960And what obviously started for Mr. Eby is what he viewed as a political opportunity
00:13:54.740to consolidate his own political power
00:13:57.020has somewhat ironically turned into an opportunity for British Columbians
00:14:01.140to end the NDP's disastrous policies two years ahead of schedule.
00:14:05.600So I think most Conservatives are feeling optimistic.
00:15:36.720It was more views than any other debate by a long shot.
00:15:40.380And so what happened is two candidates obviously didn't show up, Peter Milibar and Caroline Elliott.
00:15:46.240I think most people who were following the campaign believe that to have been a mistake by the Elliott campaign that probably cost her the leadership.
00:15:57.720I think she made some mistakes in the early days, starting with the fact that her husband, who was a sitting MLA, didn't step aside for an immediate by-election.
00:16:05.120So she took her time to get into the legislature.
00:16:07.560There were some questionable, I think, staffing picks.
00:16:10.760It led to another series of defections from the party,
00:16:16.280people that went and sat as independents that they were going to join another party.
00:16:19.520Anyways, it all culminated, again, in Carrie Lynn Finley resigning,
00:16:23.100and then Lorne Dirksen being thrown in as the interim leader.
00:16:25.880He wasn't slated to find the election, but then the NDP pulled the plug
00:16:29.62048 hours after Lorne had accepted the role of interim leader.
00:16:33.760And the one thing that I think is important to remind people
00:16:36.100is that within the caucus, you had all of these factions.
00:16:39.000You had the pro-KLF faction, you had the anti-KLF faction,
00:16:42.420and yet, in that moment, after she resigned,
00:16:46.480they all came together to basically implore Lorne,
00:16:49.520who never wanted the job, who never ran for the leadership,
00:16:52.020who never indicated that he wanted it,
00:19:47.000He's certainly not a Liberal, and I'm very excited to see how he leads the Conservative Party as Premier, hopefully, after tonight.
00:19:56.260Right. So one of the things that has, I think, been pretty absent in this campaign,
00:20:02.220although when they are in government, if they do win, will be one of the most important issues that they have to deal with,
00:20:08.980is the indigenous land claim issue that has plagued this province for decades and decades and decades
00:20:17.800and has really reared its head recently.
00:20:20.400I'm wondering from you, who lives in this province, represents this province,
00:20:24.040how do they tackle that in a way that doesn't cause more defections within their party?
00:20:29.580They have members of their caucus that are indigenous and that have supported DRIPA and voted for DRIPA.
00:20:36.860So how is Lorne going to be able to navigate that?0.99
00:20:39.080Do you think that they're going to actually be able to successfully repeal or replace or change, update it?
00:20:43.640What's your take on this issue that's going to be the biggest one?
00:20:46.000Yeah, it's going to be one of the core issues and one of the key litmus tests
00:20:50.960should Lorne become premier here in a matter of hours.
00:20:55.440And look, I think for one thing, I'm hoping that the Conservatives don't just win tonight, they win big.
00:20:59.940So he has a healthy majority to work with so no one can hold the government hostage.
00:21:05.200But the other thing is I think he came out during the debate and during the course of the campaign
00:21:10.820and was explicit that DRIPA needed to be repealed and these issues needed to be resolved.
00:21:15.940And so he has set the bar high and everyone in caucus went along with it during the campaign.
00:21:22.480So I think they're somewhat obligated to toe that line and fulfill the promise that he made on behalf of the party to British Columbians.
00:21:28.840And just on another note, he represents an area around Williams Lake that has been the center of some of these Aboriginal land claim issues that has been detrimental to forestry, to mining, to our entire resource sector.
00:21:42.200If you ever watch him during the debate or in media, when he really gets going, it's when he's talking about the resource economy, rural communities, forestry, these kinds of things.
00:21:52.780I remember during the general election debate, Eby tried to catch him off guard with his comment about a mining, some kind of mining project that was in his riding, and he immediately snapped back because he knew the details and David Eby didn't.
00:22:07.240So, yeah, I think it's an issue that he knows well, and I'm confident that he's going to be following through on his promises that he made during the election.
00:22:18.700It's always great, no matter which province you're in, when the leader comes from the rural areas of the riding,
00:22:26.960you know that they have their head on their shoulders a little bit more than these downtown Vancouver rides.
00:22:31.920And one thing I've noticed while I'm here is that the entire campaign has been centered around the Vancouver area.
00:22:37.900Unlike most other provinces where campaigns have planes and tour buses, no campaign here had a tour bus.
00:24:19.500I mean, I would love nothing more than to watch this early election call blow up in David Eby's face.
00:24:25.320I think he's been a horrible premier over the last four years.
00:24:28.140I think he's set B.C. behind by a decade or more.
00:24:32.560This is a government, remember, that inherited a balanced budget.
00:24:35.300They're now running the largest deficit in British Columbia's history.
00:24:39.320They've increased, they've out-of-control spending, bureaucracy, and waste.
00:24:43.540They've led to an education system that isn't focusing anymore on excellence0.98
00:24:48.380and reading, writing, and math, but pushing radical gender ideology,0.99
00:24:51.520making us hate, trying to indoctrinate the next generation.0.88
00:24:55.460So I think we have a chance here to get back to common sense.
00:24:59.140And, of course, they say, as in politics, no defeat is permanent and no victory is everlasting.
00:25:04.020So even if we're successful tonight, we're still going to have to fight for these ideas,
00:25:07.160for these principles and these beliefs, but I'm feeling optimistic,
00:25:11.080and I think British Columbians are ready for a change.
00:25:13.560Well, let's just give the audience a sense of what polling is indicating.
00:25:17.300So the prediction markets are showing upwards of 90% likelihood for the Conservatives to win.
00:25:23.620Polling has consistently shown Conservatives pushing into the mid to high 50s in the seat count.
00:25:30.080And it seems that that is at least where the polling is going.
00:25:33.740but what about individual seats are you what what kind of writings are you looking at tonight i i
00:25:40.820also i want to talk about this yale town riding because i mean as an outsider's perspective i
00:25:46.200look at that and go okay that's a deep urban riding it it presents itself to me as though
00:25:52.520it would be the safest ndpc possible but yet polling is showing that the conservatives have
00:25:57.960a chance to win that seat you were in you were knocking on doors there talk was about just
00:26:02.020Obviously, the ridings you're watching, but also give us some insight into how the Conservatives might actually win a really urban downtown Vancouver seat tonight.
00:26:10.140Yeah, well, if they win big, they might be winning everywhere.
00:26:12.700But Vancouver, Yaletown, I think the Conservatives lost it maybe by 6% or 7% last time.
00:26:19.280I'd have to look at the federal overlay maps.
00:26:22.520I feel that that is less of a NDP area and more of a federal liberal area.
00:26:27.540And that will be one of the questions tonight is where do those federal liberals end up going?
00:29:57.220My experience was Elections Canada did a much more professional job.
00:30:01.800So I want to walk viewers through how tonight is going to work.
00:30:06.020Like I said earlier, we're broadcasting on Rumble YouTube, Twitter.
00:30:08.860If you're watching on YouTube, you can leave a super chat.
00:30:13.200That's how you can support our journalism right away here.
00:30:16.280And we'll hopefully be able to read some of your comments.
00:30:18.980either on our screen or out loud if it's if it's helpful commentary and then on the bottom of your
00:30:25.460screen now you can see the seat counts as election results start rolling in potentially in 30 minutes
00:30:31.060here those seat counts are going to automatically update we're powered today proud to partner with
00:30:37.300poli wave our friend ray is in the back working with our decision desk to decide which seats are
00:30:44.020safe to call which seats are close and we need to watch throughout the night and whether or not we
00:30:48.900We can call effectively and without a doubt who will become the next premier of this province and what the next party will be.
00:30:57.060It's important just for the viewers as well to know what you're going to get on this broadcast is exactly what you would find anywhere else.
00:31:05.520You can support independent media and make sure that you're not going to miss a thing.
00:35:52.660I tend to try to not think about him very much.
00:35:54.920But in the West, certainly, David Eby was one of the last.
00:35:57.500And the COVID-era policy of David Eby was some of the most, and Bonnie Henry, was some of the most disastrous in this country.
00:36:05.200And he was Justin Trudeau's cheerleader.
00:36:08.680Oh, it's, I mean, I don't even know where to begin.
00:36:11.660You talk about, first of all, this is the guy that basically came up with this decision, this experiment to decriminalize hard drugs, including fentanyl, crystal meth, crack cocaine.
00:36:21.680He flooded the streets with opioids while marketing it to our young people, Safe Supply.
00:36:25.840They took a budget surplus, transformed into the largest deficit in our history.
00:36:30.720This whole DRIPA issue, the refusal to grant forestry or mining permits to any company
00:36:37.900if they didn't get the sign-off of every single First Nation band in the area, crippled those industries.
00:38:16.280So I do think that there are going to be some easy wins that a future Premier Dirksen would be able to lock in quite early.
00:38:25.820And then there will be some other long-term challenges that will be much more difficult.
00:38:30.520It seems like there is, from my perspective of the B.C. Conservative Caucus, that there is actually quite a lot of diversity of opinion.
00:38:39.200You have what you would consider to be your B.C. United and Liberal candidates.
00:38:44.680You also have really conservative candidates and MLAs.
00:38:49.620Is this going to have a long-term stability,
00:38:56.140or is there actually just such vast opinions on such important issues in the province within this party
00:39:01.920that actually that is going to be a major issue for Lorne Dirksen if he is to win tonight?
00:39:07.320Yeah, I actually don't think, a lot of that comes down to Lorne's leadership,
00:39:11.120which I think he's proven here over the course of the campaign.
00:39:13.840But I don't actually, as someone who serves in a federal caucus of 140 people,
00:39:18.260I actually don't see a wider variation of ideological differences within the B.C. Conservatives,
00:39:25.720any wider than within the federal Conservative Party.
00:39:28.780A good example is during the leadership race and during the Juneau News debate,
00:39:34.400you still had, although you had these huge clashes of personality,
00:39:37.520I would say, Keenan, you saw broad consensus on most of the major issues.
00:39:42.140So every candidate was saying that they were going to repeal DRIP.
00:39:44.880But every candidate was saying we needed to get the budget deficit under control,
00:39:48.860that we needed to end safe supply, that decriminalization had been a disaster.
00:39:53.100So there's definitely, you know, an ideological spectrum within the party.
00:39:58.100But I do think on those core issues, there is a degree of consensus.
00:40:02.860And moving beyond that, I think it comes down to leadership.
00:40:06.100And it's going to be up to Lorne Dirksen.
00:40:07.960But the fact that that same caucus that at other times for other leaders has proven challenging got behind him is, I think, a reason to be, cause to be optimistic.
00:40:20.660It's a storybook event where the leader, the good leader is the one that never sought it out.
00:40:27.440The people running in leadership races are often the ones that have been dreaming about it their whole lives, but they're not necessarily the most qualified.
00:40:34.240We have a short clip that was produced by Harrison earlier this week that outlines all of the failures of the NDP government and David Eby and basically explains why we are seeing a surge in support for the Conservative Party, whether it's for Lorne, whether it's for the individual candidates, or whether it's people just getting out to vote because they're tired of David Eby.
00:40:59.280and I want to throw to that now. I want to show people exactly what David E.B. has been up to
00:41:03.600over these last few years he's been in power. The B.C. and E.B. have been in power for almost 10
00:41:10.100years. When they took office in 2017 they promised to make life more affordable, to improve health
00:41:15.920care, tackle the housing crisis, and make life better for ordinary British Columbians. Well after
00:41:21.62010 years how has that worked out? The province is dealing with a housing crisis, a homelessness,
00:41:26.980and addiction crisis, serious healthcare problems, growing deficits, out-of-control debt, and a
00:41:34.000deterioration of public order. So let's go through 10 of the biggest failures of British Columbia's
00:41:39.840NDP government. Number 10, the international student system. Let's start with one that doesn't
00:41:45.360get enough attention. Under the NDP, British Columbia became a massive destination for
00:41:51.100international students. By 2024, British Columbia had roughly 175,000 international post-secondary
00:41:59.360students, including up to 94,000 at private institutions. Remember, the federal government
00:42:06.500controls immigration, but the provinces control education, so the ultimate incentive structure
00:42:11.760was created by the provincial government. If you're going to create the incentives to allow
00:42:16.480private businesses and public colleges to bring in tens of thousands of international students
00:42:21.620when you already have a housing crisis and an affordability crisis, ultimately, that's on the
00:42:26.780provincial government. Number nine, forestry. Forestry is one of the industries that built
00:42:31.660British Columbia. But over the years, we've watched as sawmills close, operations curtailed,
00:42:36.820and forestry communities devastated. The NDP says a lot of that is outside of their control.
00:42:41.960They blame tariffs and other external factors. Now, some of that is fair, but if you're sitting
00:42:45.660on some of the largest supply of timber in the world, government policy should be making it
00:42:50.160easier to build things, harvest timber, and actually keep mills operating. Now, more and
00:42:56.280more communities are wondering whether the industry they've depended on for generations
00:43:00.540actually has a future in British Columbia. Number eight, the rebuilding of Lytton. In 2021,
00:43:06.580wildfires destroyed roughly 90% of the village of Lytton. Two people died. It was a disaster.
00:43:13.040but the government's responsibility didn't end when the fire was extinguished.
00:43:16.960Rebuilding Lytton turned into a years-long process and in 2026 the BC Auditor General
00:43:22.880examined the province's role in the recovery. The report identified clear challenges with the
00:43:28.320province's support and funding of the recovery, including concerns about the time and cost
00:43:32.800involved. It's not blaming the NDP for the wildfire, it's about whether governments can actually
00:43:37.600deliver when people desperately need it. If your house burns down and your entire community is
00:43:41.840destroyed you shouldn't have to spend years trying to navigate government bureaucracy just to rebuild
00:43:47.200your life number seven crime and disorder let's talk about public safety when the ndp came into
00:43:54.000power in british columbia bc's crime severity index was 73.6 in 2024 that number had reached 77.9 the
00:44:03.840The NDP embraced soft on crime policies, weak measures on repeat offenders, retail theft,
00:44:11.580public disorder, an extortion crisis throughout British Columbia that has become an international
00:44:16.860story. NDP soft on crime policies creating the most predictable of outcomes, lawlessness.
00:44:24.940Number six, healthcare. Healthcare is probably the easiest place to see the difference between
00:44:29.620spending money and getting results. The NDP has dramatically increased healthcare spending,
00:44:35.100but British Columbians are still struggling to get basic care. Emergency rooms across the province
00:44:39.980have been closed. Communities have been struggling to recruit doctors, and people are waiting for
00:44:45.780primary care. The government will point to new hospitals and healthcare workers and billions in
00:44:51.300funding, but at some point you just have to ask, can people actually get healthcare when they need
00:44:55.560in BC. Number five, the toxic drug crisis. This is probably the biggest failure of the NDP era.
00:45:01.980British Columbia has been devastated by the toxic drug crisis. Thousands of people died. It is
00:45:08.120everywhere in British Columbia cities and towns. In 2023, the British Columbia government jumped
00:45:14.260headfirst into the decriminalization experiment. The policy quickly became a source of enormous
00:45:19.720controversy, particularly over public drug use and disorder. Eventually, the provincial government
00:45:25.840backed away and reversed course on their own decision, which was the right move, by the way,
00:45:32.060to addiction. But think about it. A policy that was presented to British Columbians as a
00:45:36.360major position on BC's approach to solving the addiction crisis lasted just three years. People
00:45:43.640deserve treatment, and ordinary people deserve to be able to walk safely down the streets
00:45:49.460of their communities. Think about the lives that could have been saved had the BC government not
00:45:54.760experimented with radical decriminalization policies and made the right decision the first
00:46:00.500time. Number four, housing. Housing was already expensive when the NDP came to power in 2017.
00:46:06.340But after almost 10 years, it's still one of the biggest problems facing British Columbians. The
01:04:36.320Everyone's seen the video of him saying it like 160 times in his first opening press conference when he called this election.
01:04:43.380And recently he has not been talking about that.
01:04:45.680Have you understood, like, done any, like, polling or folks groups?
01:04:49.580or do you know why that change happened?
01:04:52.120Well, I'm not giving too many things away,
01:04:55.720but this election is not about Donald Trump.
01:05:00.660This election is about David Eby and his record, right?
01:05:03.100And I think lots of people voted today,
01:05:05.660lots of people voted in advance polls,
01:05:07.440and I think what this election is about
01:05:10.620is do you want another four years of this guy?
01:05:13.580Has your life gotten better in the last four years?
01:05:15.160Is there anything you can talk about in the last four years?
01:05:17.800Whether it's crime, whether it's taxes, whether it's, you know, all sorts of things.
01:05:24.580Has your life gotten better in British Columbia?
01:05:26.380And I think the answer on that is a pretty decisive no.
01:05:29.320And so I think we, and look, I think we, part of the thing you have to do in a campaign is try and define the ballot question.
01:05:35.240Sometimes you win that battle, sometimes you lose that battle.
01:05:37.800But I think the ballot question for this campaign wasn't about Donald Trump.
01:05:40.980It was about David Eby and his disastrous record.
01:05:43.040And I think that's ultimately what people are voting on today.
01:05:44.820Well, polls are closing here in almost a minute now, and people, you know, if they're not in line, they will not be able to vote.
01:05:51.980But if you are in line watching this stream, stay in line and vote.
01:05:56.040You'll be allowed to vote as long as you are in line before 8 p.m.
01:06:01.180When you look at how this campaign has gone, one thing that is kind of general campaign wisdom is that if you're looking for a path to victory, you're losing.
01:06:12.100And if you're looking for a path to defeat, you're winning.
01:06:15.300What is the way that this could go terribly wrong for the B.C. conservative right now?
01:16:23.600I'm going to keep saying he's a real guy, cares about real people,
01:16:26.380talks about real issues and i think that ultimately appeals to voters all right um well thank you for
01:16:31.900joining us ben uh we are going to be watching closely as the provincial results start pouring
01:16:37.740in we just have received our first uh results showing the ndp uh leading with one seat you
01:16:45.500should be able to see that on the bottom of your screen once we'll pull up the seat count and have
01:16:49.820that displayed the entire time so that you guys can see exactly where this is at uh like we said
01:16:55.180at the start of the broadcast we need we need people here uh sorry we need uh to to form a
01:17:01.900majority government we're looking for 47 seats out of 93 uh once we get that uh we will be able to
01:17:11.100call the government whether it's a majority or a minority and we will be following along of course
01:17:16.060throughout the entire night all right we are going to uh show uh we are going to we have a long list
01:17:24.860of guests that are coming on here tonight we're gonna have just margaretta jogovall join us uh
01:17:30.060she is the i can see she is the candidate for vancouver uh what is the riding for margaretta
01:17:38.140it's it's a downtown riding it is vancouver yale town yale town it it absolutely blows my mind
01:17:46.780that vancouver yale town which is like a downtown riding uh you know if this was calgary toronto if
01:17:53.580If you had an adjacent riding to downtown Calgary, to the downtown core, that would not be in contention in a riding in a province that elects frequently the NDP.
01:18:03.280Well, that's what I was asking Aaron Gunn. I said, what are we not getting right about this?
01:18:08.300Because when I've been chatting with people involved in the B.C. Conservative Party, they don't act surprised that much about Yaletown.
01:18:15.320But when I look at it, I go, if this was in any other city, this would be a guaranteed liberal or NDP seat.
01:18:24.260And yet, Holy Wave is showing a very slight edge to the BC Conservative candidate in that riding, Margareta Dovgal.
01:18:34.300I think if they win that, that's a big sign.
01:18:37.440We're getting some numbers on the board now.
01:18:38.900The Conservatives are leading in a race, and the NDP are leading in two right now.
01:18:45.320early early right now so again polls have been closed for 12 minutes that number and that board
01:18:50.740is going to look a lot different and i would say probably 30 minutes well i i don't i don't think
01:18:55.420it's going to change much on the right um on on the left there those two boxes and maybe the middle
01:19:00.340one the greens uh that's what we're really going to be watching the the likelihood of one bc winning
01:19:05.420is even a single seat is extraordinarily slim there's one riding actually speaking with white
01:19:11.400Playpool. He's their communications guy. He was telling me there's the riding of Coldwater0.98
01:19:18.000and then in Prince George as well there's another riding that could be close. But they really have
01:19:24.720to move some mountains to get past the conservative momentum I think in those
01:19:29.440ridings. But that is going to be the, whether there's a right-wing party further to the right
01:19:34.760of the conservative party is going to be dependent on those two ridings. The likelihood of Dallas
01:19:38.260already winning her riding uh as our two guests ago was telling us is a is a low chance i think
01:19:46.100uh polly wave was saying that it's a hundred percent chance that the conservatives will win
01:19:50.100it we'll see if that's actually true yeah so we're going to be watching how polly wave is predicting
01:19:55.700riding by riding we can go into a few ridings we want you to pay attention as is typical in a bc
01:20:03.300election race a lot of attention needs to be paid attention to surrey surrey has a bunch of seats
01:20:09.140they're always closely contested and i think that's going to be a big sign for where we're
01:20:14.260going tonight but here we go we can tell you where the conservatives are leading right now
01:20:18.980in richmond steveston gordon jang is leading david eby obviously is leading in vancouver
01:20:26.340point gray but we are going to see how this how these numbers change so kian what what do you what
01:20:34.900are you in particular looking at right now uh are you going to follow the follow the crowd and go
01:20:39.860look at surrey mostly so the surrey ridings for sure are going to determine government um much
01:20:45.620like in alberta if you're you know we have a lot of viewers tuning in from alberta today
01:20:50.020uh where suburban calgary votes is usually where government ends up they know that edmonton votes
01:20:55.700NDP they know rural areas vote conservative and and then suburban Calgary decides and that's kind
01:21:00.580of what Surrey is but there's a lot of specific writings here that there's unique stories in each
01:21:07.300writing that that we want to be able to tell those stories and I'm going to watch closely and
01:21:11.620the number one story is the premier himself David Eby in his writing of Vancouver Point Grey I want
01:21:17.700to make sure our producers are able to pull up the map of the province so that when we're talking
01:21:23.940about these specific writings our viewers are able to see it because i'm looking at it right now and
01:21:27.860it's a map of colored in a little bit of orange with ndp writings that have been called and a
01:21:33.620couple blue writings i want to walk people through what this map actually means and when you're
01:21:38.900looking at the map you'll see uh there's there's going to be the color of the party that is leading
01:21:43.940and if there's stripes through that that means that they're leading but it has not been called
01:21:48.820once it's being called it will be a solid color uh so i expect very soon within the next five
01:21:54.980to ten minutes we'll be able to start calling some of these right yeah we will and and it's
01:21:59.780also important to just point out if you can if you can look at the seat count right now dallas
01:22:04.900brody and 1bc they are actually leading they are on the board right now i do not expect that number
01:22:10.500to remain betting markets poli wave no one has that coming but could this be something kian well
01:22:16.580Well, that's with 0.1% of votes counted.
01:22:21.000In fact, that amounts to four votes that has put Dallas...
01:22:24.980Okay, we've got to zoom in further then.
01:22:26.220I can promise you that in her campaign office right now,
01:22:30.600they're throwing their hats in the air
01:22:32.140because it looks great having that number on the board,
01:22:34.460but does it mean anything? Probably not.
01:24:31.100Yeah, well, the Green Party here in British Columbia thrives on being able to be the kingmaker.
01:24:37.500They thrive in a situation where they are able to have two or three seats
01:24:41.600and they can force the NDP to do the most radical, insane things of their dreams.
01:24:49.360The likelihood of that happening is quite low.
01:24:52.880And the fact that it's happened election after election,
01:24:56.220where they have had just a bare-bones majority with the NDP,
01:25:00.180and the Greens have been able to flex their political muscle despite being a...
01:25:04.460All right, we've got a major update on the board now.
01:25:06.580If you can make sure you see your seat count, that should update for you quickly.
01:25:12.120We are looking at 27 conservative seats.
01:25:16.100They are in the lead in 27 NDP with nine right now, and the Greens and Centre BC leading.
01:25:22.780But again, as we've talked about with 1BC, that number is gone.
01:25:27.520I predict the Centre BC number to go still very early.
01:25:31.600But we're starting to get the map to fill out now, Kian.
01:25:33.900map is filling out uh because we are partnered with polywave and some of the software they've
01:25:38.220created to analyze votes as they come in and how much of the province is voted if we can if we can
01:25:43.340get the producers to pull up the provincial map right now because i want to show what that wave
01:25:47.340of blue looks like uh let's get the full screen of the full province on um but you know what what
01:25:53.900polywave is telling us is that we're seeing these results with only point six percent of total votes
01:26:01.020counted uh so that's you know not a lot but it's enough to put the conservatives at a pretty
01:26:06.940sizable lead and when you see that on a provincial scale boy that's um that's probably why the the
01:26:13.020crowd is screaming behind us yep absolutely things are starting to catch up again on the
01:26:17.980betting markets we're seeing the ndp dropping from where they already were the crowd behind us is just
01:26:24.300continues to get louder and louder um it's it's shaping up early right now shaping up early but
01:26:31.180it is shaping up to be a great night for the conservatives this is the number is now at 53.
01:26:36.940this is an unbelievable leap for the conservative parties and let me just say we were talking about
01:26:42.460this with aaron gun earlier for conservatives across the country this is a meaningful moment
01:26:49.540There has not been a change, a flip in governing parties from a left-wing party to a right-wing party since Jason Kenney was elected Premier of Alberta.
01:27:01.440There's been a few in the Maritimes, and forgive me if you're in the Maritimes.
01:27:05.200I think I suppose Newfoundland, PEI did it, New Brunswick too.
01:27:11.120But in the large Western provinces, this hasn't happened.
01:27:13.960and frankly for the conservatives in this country since trudeau got elected it's basically been l
01:27:18.520after l after l and this is the first w that the conservatives might be posting still too early to
01:27:24.280tell i'm gonna i'm gonna say that every time i yeah claim that the conservatives are doing well
01:27:29.640because who knows uh like i said earlier this could we thought this could be a long night it
01:27:33.640still could be a long night it's just that these early numbers again reminder the magic number is
01:27:38.60047 seats look at the board on the screen right now the conservatives are leading in 53 so you
01:27:45.480need 47 for the majority 47 is what's going to take for david eby to go home and it's looking
01:27:50.920good we should have we should have a quick uh a quick promo to read and i think we have sheldon
01:27:58.600claire uh an mla candidate uh on the line for an interview uh is it going to be on the on online
01:28:06.520yeah oh awesome okay that would be great to have we're going to throw to a quick
01:28:09.480quick ad break and then we're going to bring on a new guest to talk about what
01:28:12.520this big blue wave in british columbia uh it means for this province
01:30:49.780If we can prioritize Harmon over, you mentioned two guests that you have on the line.
01:30:54.260I want to talk to Harmon because I want to see what this means for him, his riding, and I want to get a little bit of insight from him what it's been like riding this British Columbian Conservative Party roller coaster since, you know, a year ago when John Rustad was ousted in December of 2025.
01:31:14.360Harmon Bengu has been there the entire time, so we're going to get some really good insight there, and my producers can just tell me when that is ready.
01:31:20.380Right now, we're seeing the popular vote.
01:31:23.160I want to talk about those numbers, too.
01:31:25.04049% of the province right now has voted for the Conservative Party.
01:31:29.600If everything counted, that's 41,000 votes to the NDP's 32,000 votes.
01:41:50.060we can break the fourth wall we can bring we can bring clayton in while we're going
01:41:54.220this is our first on location live election broadcast so i hope you guys at home are with
01:42:00.060us i hope you appreciate that we're kind of pulling this together uh this is a first for
01:42:04.540us and i think that you know i'm proud of the work that our team has done on the ground clayton's
01:42:08.700right there he's going to come up here and get in the seat uh no we're getting you we want you up
01:42:14.460here we want you to talk about you chasing down David Eby yeah just get on
01:42:20.700up here our reporter Clayton Domain was sent here as part of our British
01:42:26.460Columbian election coverage fund we promised our readers and our supporters
01:42:32.640that we would have a guy coming here thanks for joining us coming here to
01:42:36.720show the news and ask the questions that the CBC and global news would not ask
01:42:42.480now you actually went to a press conference with David Eby you put some
01:42:47.160questions to him I want the producers to queue that chase up we have it up we
01:42:53.220have it online pull that up so that Clayton can sort of lead us into it what
01:42:57.040happened that day when you chase down David Eby and you put those questions to
01:43:00.240him well what were you asking he has two candidates that are pro defunding the
01:43:08.020police um and i just wanted to ask him and you know he's talking in surrey which it has a lot of
01:43:14.340it's a it's a big it's a hotbed for extortion crime uh there's a even speaking to people in surrey
01:43:20.020there there's a a need like safety is a top issue there um so i wanted to know why why are you
01:43:27.780supportive of candidates who are pro defunding the police when presumably you would want police
01:43:35.140to have more resources to deal with the amount of crime in surrey um i was told i couldn't talk like
01:43:40.980the the prep for his press person told me i can't uh ask questions juno news wasn't welcome i then
01:43:47.380asked him those questions um and also you know like all of the crime that happened there is there
01:43:52.900is uh several uh stabbings recently in vancouver and i wanted to ask like does he agree with his
01:44:00.100candidates that they should send social workers instead of police you know it's a great question
01:44:06.740it's a question that needs answers because and you know i've asked that questions to mayors in
01:44:10.840calgary before what are they going to do if they defund the police and you mentioned that two of
01:44:15.620their candidates supported defunding the police i have a hunch that it was more than two it was
01:44:20.060just two that were honest and said it out loud this wildly unpopular policy can we are we prepared
01:44:25.120to throw to this clip we're not prepared to throw to the clip i just want to say too i think
01:44:29.960There was a lot of levels of irony with the moment because he had just criticized the conservatives of hiding from media and then he runs away from our questions.
01:44:40.960And also the fact that the people stopping me from asking those questions were police, right?
01:49:31.300And I know that that's a policy that we're going to be moving forward to implement and make sure that parks are for everyone.
01:49:38.600It's important to be respectful, but it's important to make sure that we are treating everybody in this province with respect.
01:49:47.160Awesome. Well, Sheldon, I'm sure you have some celebrations to get to tonight.
01:49:50.660I appreciate you taking the time to join the only independent broadcast here at the British Columbian Conservatives, Victory Night.
01:49:57.820I shouldn't say Victory Night. It is the election night gathering until maybe a few minutes from here when we're able to officially call this.
01:51:27.920We are going to call this election. We are prepared. The PolyWave News Desk and the Juno News Decision Desk has enough information. And we are just going to speak with our producers to cue that up. They're going to give me a thumbs up here in a second once the math has all been compiled.
01:51:47.420But what we are looking at tonight is a historic night for British Columbia,
01:51:54.600and we are finally ready to say that Lorne Dirksen will be the next Premier of this province,
01:52:00.960the first Conservative Premier of this province in this century.
01:59:24.600And Lauren Dirksen just put on an absolute clinic on how to do it.
01:59:27.680What do you think this result means for Pierre Polyev and the federal conservatives?
01:59:32.460There is some issue and concern about how this might actually hurt Pierre Paglia, but do you think that?
01:59:40.740You know, I love Pierre. I love his policies. I love what he stands for.
01:59:47.980I have heard the criticisms that he receives, and I think that Lauren Dirksen took conservatism
01:59:54.140and presented it to people in a way that Pierre has not done yet.
02:00:00.040And, you know, Lauren is an extremely stable, calm, reasonable, humble, you know, strong, serious leader.
02:00:11.440And he just showed how you can present conservatism to Canadians so that people in the middle, because we need people in the middle to vote for us.
02:05:50.900in areas that were not polling conservatives ahead,
02:05:54.820there were some close races we were talking,
02:05:56.580we were looking at Juan de Fuca, Malahat.
02:05:59.480I believe Poliwave had that as NDP leaning.
02:06:02.820So this really is conservatives picking up
02:06:05.140where they weren't even projected to pick up.
02:06:06.780But before we let you go, talk a little bit about this comeback out of nowhere, the fact that BC Conservatives have not led in this province since 1933.
02:06:22.400Surely it's going to take the BC Conservatives some time to get used to governing all of a sudden. It's been quite a while.
02:06:27.800Well, we're ready, and I can't speak highly enough about the team that's been on this campaign.
02:06:33.440We have, without a shadow of a doubt, the strongest team in Canada in politics right now.
02:06:40.240And we are stacked with incredible talent and brilliant people who are chomping at the bit to get to work immediately tomorrow.
02:06:48.000I guarantee this is going to kick off right after this event tonight.
02:06:53.440I have, yeah, no, it's pedal to the metal now.
02:08:00.040So David Eby's only leading is riding by 355 votes.
02:08:04.820His lead in Vancouver Point Break has come down.
02:08:08.620This looks like actually it could be extremely tight.
02:08:12.380The humiliation might not be over for David Eby.
02:08:14.740What a brutal collapse of a party that has ruled this province since John Morgan took it to power from Christy Clark.
02:08:24.560uh this has been a catastrophic error for david edy and i i don't uh mind saying the crowd here
02:08:34.320is louder than i've heard conservatives in a long time i mean it's it's it's an amazing victory like
02:08:41.880we like we keep saying the conservatives haven't let in this province since 1933 it is known in
02:08:48.720canada as canada's most left-leaning province i think it's fair to say that well not anymore
02:08:54.680um and another point that i want to stress is this i believe for the first time i must be since
02:09:03.100before the justin trudeau era every single premier in canada is an advocate of the oil and gas
02:09:09.480industry there is no premier left in this country as of tonight who is opposed to pipelines as
02:09:16.440opposed to the oil industry that is a colossal victory for every Canadian and it just can't be
02:09:22.340overstated how serious that is because BC unlocks Pacific the Pacific for Canada to export oil
02:09:31.540they had the tanker ban in place this is huge and if this stuff can get repealed right away
02:09:37.540we're going to see some major improvements for every Canadian it's a win for Canadians tonight
02:09:42.240I wonder what Mark Carney is thinking, because I was speaking with someone who understands Mark's political positioning a little bit better than the average person.
02:09:54.740And he had two choices when he became prime minister, when it came to a legacy track for what he could do to be really remembered as a good prime minister, or at least a meaningful prime minister.
02:10:10.360And one of those options was to go hard on the climate, to continue down the road of
02:10:16.480Justin Trudeau, but maybe have an IQ point above room temperature while doing it.
02:10:22.200Or he had the opportunity, the option of driving an economy that was actually functioning.
02:26:40.000Like, I think, yeah, I think so professional.
02:26:43.460Like, what I got to say is, like, hats off to everybody on the team.
02:26:47.860David Eby called this, you know, snap election in order to try to take advantage of a party that was going through an internal struggle.
02:26:55.600I think the team that came together there was just so professional, so focused on the goal we are seeing right now behind us.
02:27:03.780So it was good. It was professional. It was great to be there.
02:27:08.180But, you know, I think from beginning to the end, and the beginning was quite crazy, obviously, with everything that was happening, but professionalism was defied there.
02:27:17.940So we heard and reported just a few moments ago that David Eby called Warren Dorkson to concede this election to him.
02:27:26.400I'm wondering, what does a call like that consist of?
02:27:29.940Like, I have been around some calls of, like, you know, the end of campaign and stuff going.
02:27:36.680But, you know, usually it's quite humble.
02:27:38.880It's quite focused on what's coming next.
02:27:41.240And, you know, I think at the end of the day, politicians do want to do this handoff the right way.
02:27:46.080you know props for you know I think David Eby realized it was coming quickly but I think the
02:27:52.340fact we're getting this this early in the night shows the magnitude of Lauren's win tonight
02:27:57.120well we did go through the results that are coming in and what we're interested in seeing now is if
02:28:04.420the conservatives are able to squeeze out a majority of the popular vote which going into
02:28:09.360this was that something that you guys expected was even possible I think in talking to our voters it
02:28:15.700was clear in the last week that there was like really substantial momentum coming up so like I
02:28:23.380was the guy kind of taking the over on where seats were going where things were we'll see
02:28:28.280where the popular vote ends I think as a conservative coalition nationally we usually do
02:28:34.060better on the day of vote which are kind of the last ones to come in so I'm optimistic we can get
02:28:40.120to that number but regardless I think it speaks heavily to how well everything went for this
02:28:45.300campaign how good things are are you know finishing up but you know successful on that end
02:28:51.820and very happy with where it is yeah uh one riding that we are now prepared to call is dallas brody's
02:28:59.160own riding dallas brody the leader of one bc we are now uh comfortable reporting that she has lost
02:29:07.040she has been defeated uh and will be replaced by carson and just just for our viewers she is
02:29:14.880actually below the center bc candidate she right now is polling uh fifth place in vancouver cochenna
02:29:24.400this is uh well what more can you say it's obviously a terrible night um and but i don't
02:29:30.160think anyone really thought this was possible for her to win her seat unfortunately for supporters
02:29:36.400but what role were you seeing vote splits take play here at all obviously the one the fear of a
02:29:43.920one bc vote split didn't materialize but what about on the other side with the green vote
02:29:49.840with the green vote i mean i would look to see the sky right now right for that being a good
02:29:54.720example in that conservatives are still competitive in a lot of areas that the green party is strong
02:30:00.800just for example like uh you know what we haven't seen final numbers but in saanich uh elizabeth
02:30:06.880may's old riding uh we're doing strong we're pulling ahead right there right now um so i think
02:30:13.360the vote split is always something you're looking at but look you're looking to win and
02:30:17.280the one thing i would say about carson in that riding carson binda uh like the guy's a winner
02:30:22.240i think you're going to hear about him for quite some time uh he's a great conservative he's going
02:30:27.200to be a great local representative and look i think that the one bc vote really falling behind
02:30:32.640him is a testament to him and and i think you're going to see big things from him coming we were
02:30:37.920we were watching uh west colonna uh kamloops salmon arm area where they were expected to
02:30:46.000maybe squeeze out one of those ridings coldstream was one of them and i'm just pulling that up now
02:30:52.320on the map it is unlikely that the uh 1bc will win that riding it's actually extremely unlikely
02:31:00.240it's impossible now they have 11 of the vote and what's interesting is i was speaking with
02:36:49.220And he was involved in Carolyn Elliott's campaign back during the last leadership race that just happened that turned out to be totally meaningless.
02:36:59.220yeah it's great we were talking at the start of this broadcast how so many dominoes fell
02:37:05.380in just the right way to make this night happen can you tell us from your perspective what happened
02:37:10.980and is it all for the best well at the risk of sounding like a broken record david eby saw an
02:37:16.420opportunity for himself and lauren dirksen saw an opportunity for british colombians but no
02:37:21.220effectively what happened was it's kind of amazing because everything came together in about 48 hours
02:37:27.300And that's from the destruction of Centre BC to the caucus choosing a new leader that's ratified by the board.
02:46:49.320Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honour that I introduce to you for the first time in nearly a century, your next Conservative Premier, Lorne Dirksen!
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