- Incumbent: Mike Bernier (United | 2013)
- Candidates:
- NDP: Marshall Bigsby
- Conservative: Larry Neufeld
- Independent: Mike Bernier
- Results:
- Liberal – 51%
- Conservative – 31%
- NDP – 16%
- Description:
- Making up the southern half of the Peace River Regional District, the aptly named Peace River South has the same dynamic as its northern sibling. A paper candidate from the NDP, an orphaned United-turned-independent incumbent, and a Conservative challenger riding the provincewide blue wave.
- This isn’t Mike Bernier’s first tango with the Conservative Party of BC either. In 2013 and 2020, he had to fend off two Conservative challengers, each of whom scored around 30% while he hovered around the majority mark of 50%. Drafted as part of Christy Clark’s 2013 shock troop brigade to crush the Conservative insurgency, the small-c conservative former Mayor is now facing a capital-C revolt led by Larry Neufeld, a local engineer.
- Further complicating things for Bernier is the population makeup of the riding. His hometown of Dawson Creek makes up around half the riding’s population, and depends on an array of industries such as oil and gas, agriculture, and even tourism. Meanwhile, the rest of the Peace River Regional District is a tinge more conservative and also more reliant on farming.
- While the riding is less right-wing than its northern sibling, Bernier still faces an uphill battle. He was held below 50% in 2020 in Dawson Creek thanks to a decent showing from the Conservative candidate at the time, the Executive Director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. With the rurals likely the first to bolt away from his independent bid, Bernier must run up the margins in Dawson Creek and hold onto smaller towns like Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge if he wants to survive October 19th.
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.
