Goodness gracious. With all eyes on France, Brazil, Alberta, and our own messy midterms, this is a bolt from the blue.

I had no idea that British Columbia was going to the polls yesterday for their provincial elections, and to be honest, probably would not have paid that much attention had I known.

I mean, their premier David Eby is as oily a progressive virtue signaller as you will ever have the misfortune to find in a position of power, and 'conservatives' in B.C. have been on the endangered species list for nearly 100 years. It's like sighting a dodo.

Since last August, I've been keeping tabs here at HotAir as Eby and his gang of indigenous First Nation thieves have been busy turning woke 'land acknowledgments' into sanctified 'land grabs' for his native allies. They've been snatching the keys from Canadians who have owned and paid taxes on properties going back nearly 200 years, with full participation of those 'Crown court' and King's Bench' appointed judges the Albertans are trying to free themselves of.

It started with a blockbuster judgment against the tiny town of Richmond, that yes, a nomadic tribe that set up camp to fish the river for a couple of weeks every couple of years hundreds of years ago, did actually have an 'Aboriginal claim' to the land that the town was now situated on. Oh - that included all the private property too.

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By November, Eby was helping his First Nations buddies go after pipelines. As you might imagine, he's a climate cultist through and through, so this was a win-win for him,

First Nations' claims on BC land exploded to the point where a map had to be issued, and to what I suppose was their shocked horror, 95% of BC found the ground under their feet might well belong to some Indian tribe they'd never heard of. And it was looking like there wasn't going to be a damn thing they could do about it.

In March of this year, those cheerful wokesters in trendy Vancouver were surprised to find that the Canadian government had signed away all of their waterfront property and a bunch of their fishing rights to yet another tribe.

Well, the indigenous peoples' rampage across British Columbia's private property rights is becoming everyone's problem, it seems. What began with the itinerant fisherfolk of the Cowichan tribe casting a longing eye on some riverfront property where their ancestors would spend a couple of weeks in the summer has burst straight into downtown Vancouver, BC.

Unsurprisingly, and most assuredly by design, most people in the Vancouver area haven't heard a peep about it, and those who have haven't heard much.

I say 'by design' because the Canadian government, always a model of transparency and openness, signed a sweeping 'landmark' three-part agreement with the 1,500-member Musqueam tribe in mid-February, which was 'quietly' announced.

How much? Oh, this much.

And Eby has been a big warrior on the 'No U.S. booze on the shelf!' bandwagon...

...which seems self-defeating, because it sounds like if anyone had an excuse to drink, it was the mah-roon Syrupeans who elected this posturing, power-mad dweeb.

And, I guess going booze-free in the middle of literally giving the farm away finally got to them.

When woke turns on a dime, they leave skid marks, and Eby's got them all over his body from getting hit by last night's rejection bus.

Eby called an election (I hadn't seen that detail, either) planning to increase his tiny majority, and...OOF.

 BC Left-Wing Leader Loses to Conservatives in Vote He Called

  • British Columbia elected its first Conservative Party majority in 98 years, with the Conservative Party of BC leading in 64 of the legislature’s 93 districts.
  • The BC New Democratic Party suffered an embarrassing defeat, with leader David Eby announcing his resignation in a concession speech, and the new premier will be Lorne Doerkson.
  • The Conservatives promised to cut taxes, end green regulations, and repeal a piece of legislation related to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and aim to double BC’s natural gas production by 2032.

The first conservative government elected since 1928 - no wonder the place is a shambles.

That's gonna leave a mark.

British Columbia elected its first Conservative Party majority in 98 years, swinging Canada’s third most populous province to the political right.

The Conservative Party of BC is leading in 64 of the legislature’s 93 districts, with 99% of ballot boxes reporting, according to the provincial elections agency. The BC New Democratic Party has the lead in 27 seats and the Green Party in two. Counting is still ongoing and final results may take hours or days.

It’s an embarrassing defeat for David Eby, the leader of the BC NDP who called the election last month after four years as premier, in an attempt to increase a slim majority. He announced his resignation in a concession speech.

BC’s new premier will be Lorne Doerkson, until recently an obscure former newspaper publisher and rodeo rider who became the Conservatives’ interim leader just over a month ago. As the possibility of an election loomed, Doerkson was quickly chosen to replace Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who’d resigned in September under pressure from her caucus. Lawmakers who had resigned under Findlay rapidly returned to the fold.

To paraphrase Robert Palmer, 'Landslide! Caught in a landslide...'

There appears to be a marvelous, thick cloud of schadenfreude hanging over the entire province.

Darn near everyone is enjoying Eby's electoral humiliation.

And whoda thunk it? 'Stopping the land grabs' is one of the big reasons.

Immigration has been, too.

THE NDP REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER

Wild, no?

The Syrupean map is starting to look remarkably South American.

Now, there is plenty of discussion going on that the 'conservatives' who were voted in are actually liberals who had bolted from Eby's uber-progressive wing to a more sane group. But they are still not what we'd call 'conservative.' 

I think we all realize those differences by now.

Whatever those differences are between American and Canadian philosophies, the sea change for British Columbia should start washing in almost immediately if the new party in power holds fast to implementing most of its capaign promises.

And, man - is one of those promises about to burn some Indigenous land-grabbing butt.

...“We will cut red tape like it’s never been cut before,” Doerkson said in his victory speech. “We will host a business summit next year in Vancouver that will be the envy of the world — we will welcome capital back to our province.”

He invoked the pioneers who searched for gold in the province’s interior in centuries past. “That is the trailblazing spirit of British Columbia, and it never left. It just needs government that’s on its side,” he said.

The Conservatives promised to cut taxes including basic income tax, end green regulations including a zero-emission vehicle sales quota, speed permitting, and to repeal a piece of legislation which mandates the province uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Conservatives have said that law and related policies cause unacceptable uncertainty for homeowners and investors.

The Conservatives aim to double BC’s natural gas production by 2032. Several large facilities for exporting LNG from BC’s coast to Asia are coming online and in development. In Canada, sub-national provinces have significant power over natural resource regulation.

Good luck to them taking on the Indian lobby and the UN with those currently stacked provincial courts, but unless they challenge it, nothing will happen.

Gotta start somewhere, or soon you have nothing left to lose.

There has most definitely been a mandate, and I wish them all the best in this brave new world they've chosen.

Now.

To pull Brazil into the sunlight safely this evening - what a day it would be.

Light candles, everyone.