Langford byelection sees collapse of BC United, resurgence of the Conservatives

On Monday, the NDP's Ravi Parmar and his team collected campaign signs in the aftermath of his resounding byelection win on Saturday.

It was a win that maintained the NDP’s control of the Langford-Juan de Fuca riding that was held for five terms by former premier John Horgan, a connection Parmar credited, in part, for his win.

“When I was out on the doorstep, people would say are you Horgan’s guy, and I would say, ‘Yes I am, proudly’” said Parmar.

His win was convincing, with 53 per cent of the vote.

The NDP candidate in the Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant byelection, Joan Phillip, also won her riding, with a whopping 67 per cent of the vote.

Royal Roads University political commentator David Black said Monday that neither result was a surprise, since both ridings have been NDP strongholds.

“The fact that Ravi Parmar won is perhaps not the most interesting part of what happened Saturday night,” said Black.

More remarkable, he said was both the resurgence of the Conservative Party of BC in Langford, where they hadn't run a candidate in 20 years, yet Mike Harris took nearly 20 per cent of the votes, and the collapse of the recently named BC United party, formerly called the BC Liberals, which came fourth in the byelection.

“We knew when we were changing our name 10 weeks ago that it was going to hurt us in these two byelections,” said Kevin Falcon, BC United’s leader. “We still went ahead with it though because we knew these were two NDP strongholds and we had to rip off the Band-Aid and get on with it.”

The Green candidate in Langford, Camille Currie, came third with 17 per cent of the votes, almost the same percentage as the party's candidate in the previous election.

The success of the Conservatives on the West Shore came at the expense of BC United.

Pundits say that that vote splitting might be more than just brand growing pains. It might, at least partly, be due to the popularity of the federal Conservative leader.

“The rise of Pierre Pollievre really giving a face and a lot of energy to populist conservatism,” said Black.

Parmar expects to be sworn in as an MLA in July.

Not long after that he’ll be bringing back his campaign signs for the next general election.

That’s when the Conservatives, emboldened by the byelection results, pledge to run candidates in all 93 ridings, and BC United hopes their new name resonates better with voters.

“We still have a lot of work to do to make sure people know who BC United is but I am convinced that as we get closer to the election in October 2024, we will be ready and people will know who we are,” said Falcon.