- Incumbent: Ravi Parmar (NDP | 2023)
- Candidates:
- NDP: Ravi Parmar
- Conservative: Mike Harris
- Green: Erin Cassels
- Results:
- NDP – 67%
- Liberal – 17%
- Green – 16%
- Description:
- Half of John Horgan’s old riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca, the new Langford-Highlands takes in the urban core and growing suburbs of Langford, meshing it with the rural District of Highlands into one suburban seat. Last contested in 2023 after a by-election was called, Sooke school district trustee and Horgan protégé Ravi Parmar took the district comfortably - but the results were a harbinger of things to come.
- Arguably, how the rest of the field finished in the election was the most important news of the night. The Official Opposition, hot off a brand-spanking new rebrand, slid to a derisory fourth and placed closer to the Communists than the Greens. The Greens didn’t have a good night either - hopes were high that they’d finish a strong second or even stage an upset. No, the night truly belonged to the Conservatives.
- Perhaps the backlash was inevitable. For the past four decades straight, Mayor Stew Young had been quite friendly to developers, approving numerous projects that saw the sleepy community grow into a commuter city in its own right while neglecting to build the necessary amenities and infrastructure. In 2022, he shockingly lost re-election as a Green-aligned slate swept into power municipally. Their measures provoked dramatic opposition, however, and the antics of council drove an anti-tax revolt that thrust Mike Harris (no, not that one) into a second-place finish and changed BC politics forever.
- While Parmar held the riding comfortably in the by-election and he can always rely on the NDP-friendly community of Sooke, this election will be a test of two new variables. First is just how much of a boost Horgan gave the NDP. Parmar already presided over a 14.5% decline in his first provincial campaign, and the problems Harris campaigned on still remain. Second are new, wealthier suburbs that may be less friendly to the New Democrats that have been built in recent years.
- With Langford outpacing virtually every other city in the Capital Regional District in the speed of its growth thus far, the electorate itself may have shifted between the by-election and now. Harris himself has campaigned on ending traffic gridlock through widening highways and bringing back Island Rail. Parmar has pushed for LRT and is hoping to hold onto his 2023 showing to prove himself as Horgan’s successor. Finally, Green candidate hotel manager Erin Cassels will be championing a similar line as council around managing growth, but may be dragged down by her association to those councillors. This showdown will test just how serious the Conservatives are about making inroads into the outskirts of the CRD, and a breakthrough would signal a symbolic end to blue-collar Horgan’s legacy in politics.
Hugh Chan is a second year student at UBC studying International Relations and Data Science. You can find more coverage of the 2024 BC election as well as politics across East Asia and the Anglosphere at https://x.com/shxnhugh.
