Vancouver Island sees shakeup this election as NDP lose several seats

Vancouver Island has been shaken up a bit this election with the Conservatives and Liberals taking over some ridings that have been NDP holdouts for years. 

Of the seven electoral districts that span Vancouver Island, two went Liberal, the Conservatives won three, the NDP held out to keep one and the Green Party held on to one as well. 

Although some ridings are still counting advanced polls votes and mail-in ballots, Vancouver Island’s results have now been decided. 

In the Victoria riding, which has been held by the NDP’s Laurel Collins for the past two terms, the liberals managed to claim victory with around 53% of the vote as compared to the NDP’s 25% and the Conservative’s near 17%. 

The riding’s new member of Parliament (MP) will be the Liberal’s Will Greaves, whose academic background focussed on climate change research, national security and arctic politics. He has written several peer-reviewed articles on these matters. 

Additionally, Greaves is the co-founder of the Climate Security Association of Canada, and serves on the Defence Advisory Board to Canada’s Department of National Defence.

In the Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke electoral district, the NDP’s outgoing Randall Garrison retired ahead of this election, but his replacement could not secure the votes needed to win the riding. 

Instead, the Liberal’s Stephanie McClean won the riding with 49.3%, compared to the Conservative’s 28.5% and the NDP’s 18.7%. 

McLean’s background is in law and she formerly served as an Alberta NDP MLA. 

As an MLA for the Calgary–Varsity riding, she spearheaded initiatives such as making Alberta the first province to introduce non-binary identity documents, increasing female representation on the boards of publicly traded companies and implementing protections against predatory lending.

In the Saanich–Gulf Islands riding, the Green Party’s co-leader Elizabeth May managed to hold onto her seat. 

May secured 38.8% of the vote, compared to the Liberal’s 31.8%, the Conservative’s 28.4% and the NDP’s 4%. 

The Green’s co-leader has always been a strong and vocal advocate for climate action and has had a long career in environmental advocacy before entering the political arena.

May’s background is in law and she worked as the Executive Director of Sierra Club of Canada before making the move to politics, becoming the leader of the Green Party in 2006. 

She was the first member of the Green Party to win a seat in the House of Commons, and in the 2025 election, she is one of just two to win a seat at Parliament.

Cowichan–Malahat–Langford is another of the island’s ridings that flipped from NDP to Conservative. The Tories’ Jeff Kibble garnered 37.3% of the vote, compared to the incumbent NDP’s Alistair MacGregor winning just 32.7% and the Liberal’s taking only 28.1%.

Kibble has lived in the riding for the past 14 years and his background lies in the 28 years of service he gave to the Royal Canadian Navy. 

Prior to the election, he said his goals were to “return our nation to a respected, safe, healthy, and financially stable state.”

Nanaimo–Ladysmith is another riding that flipped from NDP to Conservative. 

The Conservative’s Tamara Kronis won 35.2% of the vote in Nanaimo–Ladysmith, as compared to the Liberal’s 27.8%, the NDP’s 18.4% and the Green’s 18.2%.

Kronis has a background in law, is a goldsmith and owns a small business. In the 2021 election, she narrowly lost to the NDP’s Lisa Marie Barron, but won this time around. 

The only incumbent NDP seat that the party was able to hold on to was in Courtenay–Alberni. 

In Courtenay–Alberni, the NDP’s Gord Johns won 39.9% of the vote, compared to the Conservative’s 34.5% and the Liberal’s 22.6%. 

Johns has been the region’s MP since 2015, and is now the only NDP representative on Vancouver Island. 

Lastly, in the North Island–Powell River electoral district, the Conservative’s controversial candidate Aaron Gunn secured the win with 38.7% of the vote, compared to the incumbent NDP’s 32.8% and the Liberal’s 28%. 

Aaron Gunn had several social media comments resurface throughout the campaign which had many people calling for his resignation, while others voiced their support. 

His controversial statements spanned from 2014 to 2021, and their content praised US President Donald Trump, as well as Elon Musk, they dismissed the gravity of the harms done against Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and they were dismissive of the gender pay gap in the country. 

As of this publication, the Liberals have won the election, but it is unclear whether they will form a minority or majority government with a projected 168 seats, and the Conservatives are poised to win 25 seats bringing their total up to a projected 144.

The NDP have lost several seats, going from 25 in the last session of Parliament to just a projected seven seats. This loss has prompted Jagmeet Singh to step down as party leader, after losing to the Liberals in his own riding.  

Another party leader who lost their own riding is Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost to the Liberals after having held the riding for nearly 20 years. 

Poilievre has indicated that he will “find a seat,” and will not be stepping down as party leader at this time.