How the story of the federal election played out in 5 B.C. ridings

The projected results of the federal election show a shake-up in British Columbia, where the national theme of the 2025 race — a two-party showdown between the Liberals and Conservatives — played out in several regions in the province.

On Vancouver Island — where the NDP held six seats — Liberal candidates captured the ridings of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke and Victoria, where the last Liberals elected were in 2008 and 2004, respectively.

In the former riding, Liberal Stephanie McLean, a local lawyer and former Alberta NDP MLA, defeated the Conservatives' Grant Cool and NDP incumbent Maja Tait with 47 per cent of the vote.

In Victoria, Liberal Will Greaves, an associate professor at the University of Victoria who researches climate change, security, and Arctic politics defeated NDP incumbent Laurel Collins with 51 per cent of the vote.

The two Liberal Vancouver Island seats make up the 168 national seats the Liberals were projected to win on the party's way to a fourth mandate, as of 1 a.m. PT Tuesday.

The loss of five seats on Vancouver Island were part of the NDP's collapse in the polls, which saw it reduced from 24 seats nationally to leading or elected in seven. 

The NDP seat count in B.C. went from 13 seats to leading or elected in three. Leader Jagmeet Singh lost his Burnaby Central riding and resigned as leader on election night.

Also emblematic of the NDP's problems this election was a tough race for Peter Julian, who had represented the Burnaby-New Westminster riding since 2004.

In this election, in the New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville riding, he trailed the Conservatives' Indy Panchi, the founder of a free meal kitchen, and the Liberals' Jake Sawatzky, a master's student in counselling psychology at Trinity Western University in Langley.

The NDP's collapse in B.C. resulted in Conservative gains in the Southern Interior.

Leading the charge there was Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay candidate Helena Konanz, a former world-ranked professional tennis player, who defeated NDP incumbent Linda Sankey and the Liberals' Gloria Morgan with 44 per cent of the vote.

The Interior was poised to go entirely blue pending the outcome of a close race in Kelowna, which had the Liberals' Stephen Fuhr holding a slim lead over incumbent Conservative Tracy Gray as of 1 a.m. PT Tuesday.

The Conservatives were leading or elected for 19 seats in B.C., a net gain of four seats, while the Liberals were leading or elected in 20 ridings for a net gain of six.

The NDP was poised to lose 10 seats in B.C.