Conservatives Take Seat From Liberals in BC Byelection as Trudeau Faces Pressure From Caucus

An election sign outside the polling station at the George Greenaway Elementary School in Surrey, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2024. Jeff Sandes/The Epoch Times

SURREY, B.C.—Conservatives have taken another riding from the Liberals in the latest byelection in Cloverdale-Langley City in B.C. on Dec. 16, on the same day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lost two senior cabinet ministers.

With 105 out of 122 polls reporting as of 10:45 p.m. local time, Conservative candidate Tamara Jansen had gained 64.5 percent of the votes, with the Liberal and NDP candidates coming in at distant second and third positions with 16.9 percent and 13.4 percent of the votes respectively.

Jansen, described as a business owner and community volunteer on her campaign website, is regaining the seat after losing to Liberal John Aldag in 2021. She was first elected as an MP in the 2019 general election, narrowly defeating Aldag, an incumbent MP from 2015 when the riding was first created.

Campaign signs in support of Conservative candidate Tamara Jansen outside of the home of supporter Werner Kottke in Surrey, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2024. Jeff Sandes/The Epoch Times

The campaign office of Liberal candidate Madison Fleischer in Surrey, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2024. Jeff Sandes/The Epoch Times

The Dec. 16 byelection was triggered by the resignation of of Aldag in May, with Aldag deciding to join the B.C. NDP in the provincial election.

Coming in second and third in the byelection were Liberal candidate Madison Fleischer and NDP candidate Vanessa Sharma respectively.

The defeat for the Liberals came on the same day that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Housing Minister Sean Fraser resigned from cabinet. As well on the same day, some Liberal MPs restarted their calls for Trudeau to step down as leader.

The Liberals have been trailing the Conservatives in the polls for some time. The Grits lost two long-time strongholds earlier this year, losing Toronto-St. Paul’s to the Conservatives in June, and Lasalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal to Bloc Québécois in September. In another byelection held this year in the NDP stronghold of Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg in September, the New Democrats held on to their seat.

Voters Speak Out

Cloverdale resident Werner Kottke took no chances and voted early in the byelection. With several signs supporting the Conservative candidate and denouncing the carbon tax on his property, he said the current government doesn’t represent him and he wants to see change.

“I really don’t think the government that’s in charge right now is doing a good job for the people,” Kottke told The Epoch Times.

“I think the Conservative Party is more geared toward the people and trying to alleviate the problems we’re having with prices going up, fuel, carbon tax—it’s killing me. And it’s killing my business, too. I’m a truck driver, owner operator, and it’s hard to make money now.”

Kottke said another factor for him is that pride in Canada as a stable, patient, and peaceful country has eroded under the current government. “We’re a laughing stock around the world now,” he said.

Liberal supporters Muriel, who declined to give her last name out of privacy concerns, and her husband disagreed with Kottke, saying the nation is still in good shape under Trudeau’s leadership.

“[Conservatives] are too Trumpish,” she said.

“I think it could be worse, you know? I think we’re fine. I think we’re okay.”

A voter casts his ballot in the Dec. 16 byelection at a polling station at the George Greenaway Elementary School in Surrey, B.C.. Jeff Sandes/The Epoch Times

A polling station at the George Greenaway Elementary School in Surrey, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2024. Jeff Sandes/The Epoch Times

Anomaly vs Norm

Sanjay Jeram, senior lecturer in political science at the Simon Fraser University, says the fact that the riding has flipped from Liberal to Conservative to Liberal and back again is more of an anomaly than the political norm, and that a Tory win is more expected in that riding.

While Trudeau added some electoral strength in 2015 when the Liberals first won the riding, and the COVID years drove their support to reclaim the seat in 2021, the Jansen victory on Dec. 16 shouldn’t be viewed as a surprise, Jeram said.

“I think it’s more of an aberrational blip that the Liberals won, ever,” he said in an interview.