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When interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson received a phone call from one of his daughters just two days after David Eby called a snap provincial election, he didn’t have time for a conversation.
In the whirlwind of activity he’d “kind of forgotten” it was his 58th birthday.
“She knew that obviously it was pretty busy,” Doerkson said in an interview.
A month ago, Doerkson was little known outside Williams Lake and his home riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin, which he has represented since 2020.
But that all changed on Sept. 20, when he was hurriedly installed as interim leader of the Conservatives — having returned from a vacation in Africa — after the resignation of Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
Two days later, he was campaigning to become premier after Eby’s early election call.
Is he some kind of Machievellian genius, to have emerged as a possible premier after a period of wild turmoil and defections in the Conservatives? Doerkson, who left BC United to join the Conservatives in 2024, ahead of the last provincial election, laughed off the suggestion.
“I didn’t expect this, I certainly didn’t seek this and I certainly did not plan two years ago to somehow put all of these stars into alignment,” he said.
“I mean, the fact is, (in) politics every day is an exciting day and the next one you have no idea what is about to happen.”
Doerkson was one of the first defectors to the Conservatives as BC United imploded in the wake of their name change from the B.C. Liberals.
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon — who did not respond to requests for comment — said at the time that “to have somebody that we’ve heard internally talk about how appalled he is by the B.C. Conservative’s positions, especially on social conservative issues, to then walk over and join that party is obviously disappointing.”
The Conservatives went on to suffer upheaval of their own after they came within three seats of winning in 2024 with 44 MLAs. Their caucus ranks fell to the mid-20s in the dying stages of Findlay’s leadership, amid talks of so-called “purity tests” as debate raged over the proper direction of the party.
Within days Doerksoon had wooed many back to the fold — including seven out of eight legislators who had joined the CentreBC party.
Doerkson is focused on unity, as the party banks on him to beat Eby on Oct. 24.
“My colleagues have probably picked me because I’m certainly a broad-thinking person,” he said.
“I’m also well known for certainly being a good listener and certainly open to new ideas, which is exactly my leadership style and it’s always been that way and it will continue that way.”
He said the party’s platform hasn’t much changed.
But the public face of the Conservatives has undergone an extreme makeover compared to Findlay’s brief reign, when she staked out positions on cultural issues. It was in the context of the tumult in the Conservative ranks that Eby called the election two years early.
Since Doerkson took over, polls have put the B.C. Conservatives well within range of winning the election.
Before his elevation, Doerkson had stayed mostly out of the culture-war fray, his time in the legislature spent mostly hyper-focused on his riding and region, beset by wildfires and hospital emergency room closures.
Doerkson’s time as publisher of the local newspaper had put him squarely at the heart of the community. He’s also a former rodeo rider, who has framed positions on health care from his perspective as a former visitor to emergency rooms.
Scott Tucker, who owns the local Home Hardware in Williams Lake, has been Doerkson’s financial agent since he entered politics, and said he’s known the man for about 15 years or more.
They’re both Rotarians and would encounter each other at community events, where Doerkson was more often than not the master of ceremonies.
Tucker said Doerkson is “not one to go it alone,” describing him as someone who seeks out guidance and input from others, drawing on his experience in business, and volunteering and dealing with different points of view.
“You have to all work together. You can’t go in guns blazing and ‘it’s gonna be my way or the highway’ and this and that. Well, that’s not gonna get anybody anywhere in business or I think in government,” Tucker said.
Tucker said that’s what sets Doerkson apart from his predecessor Findlay, who he said may have had a more of a “my way or the highway” leadership style.
“That’s kind of maybe where she failed, and Lorne would be like, ‘no, I’m going to listen to these other people and pull people together and get the best out of everybody for the benefit of the province,'” Tucker said.
The NDP has sought to depict Doerkson as just the latest in a line of leaders of a fractured Conservative party. The party has also cast doubt on whether he would be premier for long if the Conservatives win the election, as the interim leader of a party whose constitution prohibits him from seeking the position permanently. The Conservatives’ directors have meanwhile said they will “pursue the appropriate means under the party’s constitution and bylaws and the Societies Act” to keep him on as leader.
Tucker said he would not characterize Doerkson as a “rebrand” of the party, but rather a “fine-tuning,” jettisoning stances that failed to resonate with the public and focusing on broader issues facing voters.
“There could be some little obscure problems somewhere that one section is really important to them, but what does everybody want?,” Tucker said.
“Everybody wants a strong economy, they want health care, they want education, they want public safety … We’ve got to worry about those basics before we start worrying about the frills, right?”
Doerkson said he wasn’t necessarily reluctant before taking on the party’s top job, but rather cautious.
He said he first had a conversation with his wife about what’s at stake, and then considered the need to unify a fractured membership and party caucus.
“I am under no misunderstanding of the task ahead, and I’m under no misunderstanding of how hard the work will be,” he said.
“I think there’s a growing sense of unity in our party and I’m proud of that.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2026.
Darryl Greer, La Presse Canadienne
