B.C. Conservatives Win a Majority Promising 120-Day Permits for Major Projects

British Columbia elected a Conservative majority on Saturday, by the projections of The Canadian Press and CTV News. CTV's headline called it the province's "first Conservative government in nearly 100 years." Its leader, Lorne Doerkson, has promised to make the province "the fastest place in North America to permit a mine" and to cut red tape back to 2017 levels.

The Canadian Press called the majority at 8:55 p.m. Pacific, about an hour after polls closed. Seat counts were preliminary through the night. By 10:30 p.m. Pacific, no date had been announced for the swearing-in of Doerkson or his cabinet.

In 2025, Victoria built its own fast lane

On May 1, 2025, the outgoing NDP government tabled the Infrastructure Projects Act. The law lets cabinet designate a project as provincially significant, which allows a quicker environmental assessment. Designated projects must uphold the government's commitment to DRIPA, the release said. The bill became law on May 28, 2025, The Narwhal reported.

DRIPA, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, is the B.C. law that commits the province to align its laws with the United Nations declaration of the same name.

On November 17, 2025, the province launched Look West. The plan aims to draw C$200 billion of private investment into major projects over a decade.

A December ruling tied mineral claims to DRIPA

In December 2025, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in a case brought by the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations. They had challenged mineral claims staked on their territory without their input. The court found that DRIPA has legal force, The Narwhal reported. The decision was two to one, and the majority also found the "free entry" mineral tenure system inconsistent with the UN declaration, according to The Tyee.

Free entry is the long-standing rule that lets a licensed prospector stake a claim without first hearing from the nation whose land it covers.

Premier David Eby had said DRIPA poses significant legal peril to the province, Global News reported on April 19, 2026, and his government planned a spring bill to suspend parts of the law. That day, the First Nations Leadership Council, which represents the leadership of the BC Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, sent MLAs an open letter. It warned that "attempts to unilaterally suspend or repeal DRIPA and the Interpretation Act will invite legal challenge," Daily Hive reported. The same day, the premier's office confirmed that "the government will not be introducing legislation on DRIPA during this session," Global News reported.

On April 20, Eby and the council said in a joint statement that they "commit to genuine collaboration to find solutions as soon as possible, and before the fall legislative session," Daily Hive reported.

By spring 2026, five mines had their permits

On January 21, 2026, Centerra Gold's Mount Milligan gold-copper mine was cleared to keep operating to 2035, The Narwhal reported. Four days later, the province announced the Eskay Creek project as the first consent-based mining agreement under section 7 of DRIPA, with the Tahltan Nation, the same outlet reported. Section 7 lets the province share a decision with an Indigenous governing body, or make it only with that body's consent.

A day later, the province promised exploration permit decisions within 40 to 140 days from April 1, 2026, backed by C$3 million, Black Press reported.

On April 29, the government added 17 projects to its priority list. Its release counted five mines permitted since Look West began.

The same release said Eskay Creek took nine months from application to decision. It reported a 35 per cent reduction in major mining application timelines, which it attributed to co-ordinated environmental assessment and permitting processes. A companion page said the critical minerals and mining backlog was "reduced by 50% overall."

Between June and September, the big copper projects moved

On June 18, Hudbay Minerals announced the groundbreaking of the New Ingerbelle expansion at its Copper Mountain mine near Princeton. The permits had arrived on February 19. Hudbay's release lists, among its risks, a judicial review of the permit filed by the Lower Similkameen Indian Band.

The next day, Newmont received an amended environmental assessment certificate and an amended Mines Act permit for the Red Chris block cave. It said the certificate came through "a consent-based process with the Tahltan Nation." A block cave is an underground method that undercuts a body of ore so that it breaks and falls under its own weight into collection points. Newmont expects the project to raise Canada's copper production by roughly 15 per cent, and plans a final investment decision later in 2026.

Red Chris was "the seventh major BC mine or mine extension permitted in the last 18 months," the Mining Association of BC said. Its president and chief executive, Michael Goehring, urged the province to keep "accelerating permitting for more mines."

By September 18, 2026, the province's major projects page listed 41 projects and C$130 billion toward the C$200 billion goal.

The same page showed the Highland Valley Copper extension, Eskay Creek, Mount Milligan and the second phase of Artemis Gold's Blackwater mine in construction. Blackwater's expansion had been valued at C$1.44 billion in the April release. The KSM project was at the planning stage, with its environmental assessment complete and limited early works permitted.

In September, Doerkson took over and named a first priority

Doerkson became interim Conservative leader on September 20, 2026, two days before the election call, The Canadian Press reported. He succeeded Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who had resigned. The MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin since 2020, Doerkson was elected as a BC Liberal and crossed to the Conservatives in May 2024. Before politics he was a newspaper publisher and a financial planner, CTV News reported.

Eby called the snap election on September 22. Asked that day in Vancouver about his top priority, Doerkson said: "I will repeal DRIPA," according to The Narwhal. Later in the campaign he said "there has to be a better path forward," and that he was "absolutely committed" to partnerships with First Nations, The Tyee reported on October 22.

Eby, whose government had dropped its own DRIPA bill in April, said during the campaign that "there's only one path forward, and that's in partnership with the Indigenous people in this province," The Tyee reported.

On September 28, AME, the Association for Mineral Exploration, asked every party for reform of DRIPA and the Interpretation Act, fixed permitting timelines that are met, and a renewed or expanded Mining Exploration Tax Credit.

In October, the platform put numbers on permitting

On October 7, the party published its economic plan. It promised to "introduce a 120 Day Permitting Act" for major projects over C$250 million. It promised to "cut red tape back to 2017 levels by the end of a first term," through a "one-in, two-out" law and a new Minister for Red Tape Reduction.

The full platform, "Lorne Doerkson's Plan for a Stronger BC," followed in mid-October:

The Mining Exploration Tax Credit is a provincial credit that returns part of a company's eligible exploration spending. Geoscience BC is a not-for-profit that gathers geological data and makes it public for explorers.

The October 2026 platform projects at least C$6 billion a year in provincial revenue from the gas target. It sets no target number of new mines.

Saturday began with a strike at Highland Valley

On October 24, before the polls closed, Teck said strike action by United Steelworkers Local 7619 "has commenced" at Highland Valley Copper. "Operations are currently continuing at a reduced capacity," the company said. The effect on production "will depend on the duration of the labour action."

Polls closed at 8 p.m. Pacific. A majority needs 47 of the 93 seats, and the counts moved through the evening.

In the 10:25 p.m. count, the Conservatives had 57 seats elected and six leading. They had 48.0 per cent of the votes tallied, the NDP 37.5 per cent and the Greens 11.0 per cent.

Mail-in and absentee ballots will not be counted until about two weeks after election day, The Canadian Press reported, so close ridings can change.

Eby conceded just after 9:20 p.m. and offered his resignation as NDP leader. "I accept full responsibility," he said, according to Daily Hive.

CBC News reported that Doerkson gave a victory speech after the projection. Its text had not been published by 10:30 p.m. Pacific, and the party had said he would not hold a media scrum on election night, CTV News reported on October 21. By the same hour, the Mining Association of BC, AME and the First Nations Leadership Council had posted no statement on the result.

Each promise now needs a cabinet and a bill

The swearing-in of the premier and cabinet has to happen before any promise can move, and the cabinet list is where a Minister for Red Tape Reduction would first appear.

Both the 120 Day Permitting Act and the DRIPA repeal need a bill, and a bill needs the legislature to sit. No sitting date had been set by Saturday night.

The 120 Day Permitting Act appears on the party's October 7 economic plan page; the platform document describes "firm project approval timelines" and "fixed timelines" without a day count (pp. 14 and 21), and the party's page does not say when the 120 days would start. For comparison, the outgoing government reported nine months from application to decision for Eskay Creek, a C$713 million project by its figure and so above the proposed C$250 million threshold.

The platform's case for the repeal, in its own words, is that "British Columbians shouldn't need a constitutional lawyer to know whether they own their home," and the NDP "has created unnecessary uncertainty in its approach to Aboriginal title litigation" (p. 47). Doerkson's platform pairs the repeal with "revenue sharing, ownership and meaningful participation" for First Nations (p. 48).

The platform does not set out how a repeal would treat agreements already made under section 7, such as the Eskay Creek agreement with the Tahltan Nation. It commits to "honour existing First Nations agreements on LNG, pipelines and transmission" (p. 23), and section 7 does not appear in it.

First Nations leaders set out the other side before the vote. "Repealing DRIPA is a slogan, not a plan," Tŝilhqot'in National Government Tribal Chief Otis Guichon Sr. said in a statement, The Tyee reported on October 22. Dallas Smith, president of the Nanwakolas Council, told The Narwhal in an interview published October 7 that the law "isn't taking one side or another in a project." At the start of the campaign, BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee said it was "in the best interest of all British Columbians to reject these divisive politics" and support First Nations, The Narwhal reported.

Until a cabinet is sworn in and the legislature sits, the 120-day law, the red-tape minister and the DRIPA repeal remain campaign commitments, now with a majority behind them.