A relative outsider has been elected the new leader of the Canadian province of British Columbia after the provincial Conservatives swept to power in a snap election.

Lorne Doerkson, who took the helm of the party just weeks ago, will be British Columbia’s new premier after the Conservatives won a majority of seats in the legislative assembly. It’s the first time the party has won in the province in nearly a century.

Outgoing Premier David Eby, of the New Democratic Party (NDP), called the snap election last month – two years early – in an attempt to shore up power for his party.

Eby’s gamble backfired in what has become the province’s biggest political shakeup in decades.

A former rodeo announcer and newspaper publisher, Doerkson was first elected to the British Columbia (BC) Legislative Assembly in 2020.

But the 58-year-old was surprised himself when he found out, while on a flight home from South Africa last month, that his caucus colleagues wanted him as the party’s new figurehead.

The news came shortly after the former leader of the BC Conservatives, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, resigned in September due to internal party conflict that saw a third of her caucus quit the party.

“Of course, it was a little bit of a short notice,” Doerkson said in an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC earlier this month.

Eby, who became premier in 2022, sought to take advantage of the divided BC Conservatives by calling the snap election.

He said the western Canadian province needed a “fire break” against US President Donald Trump’s economic attacks and “Trump-style politics that threaten to infect” the province.

He defended his early election call by arguing his left-leaning party needed a bigger majority in the assembly to get its policies passed more quickly and easily.

“A one-seat majority meant every single vote could bring down the government,” he said in a campaign video.

But Saturday’s election results show voters were ready for someone new.

The NDP is projected to have won just 27 of the 93 total seats, while Doerkson’s Conservatives are projected to have won 64.

The BC Green Party won two seats.

“British Columbians are hardworking, trailblasing people,” Doerkson said in his victory speech Saturday night. “They want a fair shot at building something in this province.”

That “trailblasing spirit”, he said, “just needs government that’s on its side.”

Doerkson has promised to cut red tape “like it’s never been cut before” by fast-tracking forestry and mining permits, and to triple natural gas production by 2035.

Eby resigned as provincial NDP leader in his concession speech, and said he accepts “full responsibility” for the outcome.

The provincial Conservative win comes after another recent shakeup in Canadian provincial politics when earlier this month, Quebec’s sovereigntist Parti Quebecois won enough seats in the provincial election to form a minority government, adding a new test for Canada’s unity.