The gains and missteps of B.C.'s historic election

What happened in the British Columbia election is about as wild as Canadian politics gets. A new premier few people had even heard of a month ago after a snap election almost no one wanted delivering a conservative majority to a party known for chaos. Politics in British Columbia, right? Well, maybe. But voters also delivered a few messages politicians from every party could pay attention to. It breaks my heart, and I accept full responsibility for that outcome. Perhaps the biggest lesson is a warning to those in power. Don't call an election voters don't want, says UBC political science professor Stuart Prest. When you put an imposition on voters like that, they're going to bristle. How big of a miscalculation was that for the premier? I mean, it's historic. This is career-defining. B.C. conservatives turned the election into a referendum on Eby. This simple ad, switching the letters of his name, especially effective. David Eby looked at a leaderless conservative party and a one-seat majority and thought, easy win. Now the premier who took the gamble is a punchline. The internet piling on. Greatest political blunder. Worst own goal. Biggest self-own. Now, Eby's legacy. Eby's failure also shows campaigning against Trump only goes so far. Donald Trump is attacking our workers. He's targeting our businesses and he is threatening our sovereignty. Voters didn't buy it. Press says they saw Eby's flannel outfit and those signs he put up at the border as an opportunistic act. I think we are seeing that Canadians are worried about the international situation but they also want government just to get on with the work of government. So there are lessons in what the NDP did wrong but a big part of the story here is what the Conservatives got right and a lot of that, says Prest, comes down to the leader and how he behaved on the campaign. There is Lorne Dirksen jumping high, the fireworks in the background. Weeks ago, many British Columbians hadn't heard of Lorne Dirksen, a backbencher from Williams Lake, rodeo country in the middle of the province. Never shown leadership ambitions. The Conservatives plucked him from obscurity as an antidote to months, even years of chaos. It's a long story, but here are the highlights. John Rustad was the Conservative Party leader after the last election. He couldn't keep the different factions together. He was ousted as leader. The party elected Carolyn Findlay. She leaned into social conservatism. Her slogan, faith, family, freedom, too Trumpy for some. Infighting got so bad, she reportedly hired a private investigator to look into MLAs, a journalist, and even Chip Wilson, the billionaire Lululemon founder. How BC is that? Nine MLAs have quit the Conservatives in recent weeks. So, a bunch of MLAs defected. Eby was ready to pounce with an election call and, at the last minute, Finlay resigns and is replaced with someone who just seems normal. He has signaled throughout the campaign that he wants to be a more moderate Conservative leader. He is not leaning overtly into these divisive cultural issues. On the campaign trail, he limited access to media and when he did take questions, his answers were safe. A Conservative government will keep U.S. liquor off of our shelves. Right now they have the fireworks going. Winning that way is one thing. Keeping those factions in line while governing is another. The populist base of the party could expect a hard right turn. Challengers to Dirksen's leadership may yet lurk. But the size of his majority could fend off dissent, at least for now. And there's another lesson here, and this one comes from the Green Party. Some voters, it seems, warm to youth and enthusiasm. A lot of people ask, who are the oligarchs? So we're here on Billionaire's Row in Vancouver. Leader Emily Lowen is 26. In the face of all that polarization, she held her own, maintaining two seats in the legislature and increasing the party's popular vote share. For those who really feel like politics is spinning away and that they're being left behind economically and also that our focus has drifted away from the very real problems of changing climate, She is a voice for them and a voice for a new generation. The challenge for Lohan will be keeping those conversations going in the legislature. Victory last! DC is definitely blue! Because the voters were very clear. They wanted change and they chose blue. British Columbia's Conservative chapter is about to begin.