Kevin Falcon has been elected the new leader of the BC Liberal party.
Falcon, a former deputy premier and finance minister, won on the fifth round of voting Saturday night in Vancouver, taking just over 52% of the points available.
Legislature members Ellis Ross finished second with almost 34 per cent of the vote and Michael Lee was third, with about 14 per cent.
Val Litwin, Gavin Dew, Renee Merrifield and Stan Sipos were dropped from the field after four ballots.
"I'm humbled by the strength of support I've received tonight," said Falcon, standing on the victory stage with his wife and two daughters.
"We have a lot of work to do," he said. "That includes a root-to-branch rebuild."
The 59-year-old Falcon left politics a decade ago to spend more time with his young family and work in the private sector with a Vancouver investment and property development firm.
He held a number of portfolios in cabinet after first being elected in 2001 including transportation, health, finance and deputy premier. Falcon finished second in the 2011 leadership contest, losing to Christy Clark, who served as premier until the party lost power in 2017.
The leadership race was called after the resignation of Andrew Wilkinson following the party's 2020 election defeat as the NDP won a majority government.
South Peace MLA Mike Bernier, who supported Falcon, said the party needs a leader who can unite B.C.'s urban and rural voters and its Conservative and Liberal supporters. The B.C. Liberals are not affiliated with the federal Liberal party and have describe themselves as "a made-in-B.C. free enterprise coalition."
"He checks all the boxes we need for a leader," said Bernier, who was among a dozen Liberal caucus members who backed Falcon.
Earlier today, a judge rejected a bid by a party member to delay the release of the results for 15 days over concerns about the Liberals' recent audit of new members it signed up during the leadership campaign.
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Kevin Falcon - 4541.35 points (52.19%)
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Ellis Ross - 2928.33 points (33.65%)
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Michael Lee - 1230.31 points (14.14%)
UPDATE: Still no winner after round four, with Val Litwin dropped from the next round of ballots.
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Kevin Falcon - 4318.14 points (49.63%)
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Ellis Ross - 2714.50 points (31.2%)
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Michael Lee - 1039.37 points (11.94%)
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Val Litwin - 627.97 points (7.21%)
UPDATE: Still no winner after round three, with Gavin Dew dropped from the next round of ballots.
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Kevin Falcon - 4202.36 points (48.3%)
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Ellis Ross - 2493.1 points (28.66%)
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Michael Lee - 938.43 points (10.8%)
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Val Litwin - 536.17 points (6.16%)
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Gavin Dew - 429.93 points (6.01%)
UPDATE: Still no winner after round two, with Renee Merrifield dropping off the ballot.
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Kevin Falcon - 4143 points (47.6%)
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Ellis Ross - 2355.9 points (27.1%)
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Michael Lee - 912.4 points (10.5%)
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Val Litwin - 517.9 points (5.95%)
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Gavin Dew - 481.4 points (5.5%)
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Renee Merrifield - 289 points (3.3%)
UPDATE: No contestant won a majority of votes in the first round of voting, though Kevin Falcon narrowly came close with 4,121 of 4,351 points and 47% of the first ballots.
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Kevin Falcon - 4121 points (47%)
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Ellis Ross - 2325 points (26.7%)
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Michael Lee - 899 points (10.3%)
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Val Litwin - 504 points (5.8%)
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Gavin Dew - 466 points (5.4%)
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Renee Merrifield - 278 points (3.2%)
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Stan Sipos - 104.6 points (1.2%)
Stan Sipos was eliminated for the second round of voting.
Voting in the BC Liberal leadership race has closed.
Voting began Thursday to replace former leader Andrew Wilkinson, who resigned after the October 2020 election. Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond has served as the party's interim leader since.
Vying for the party's leadership are MLAs Michael Lee, Ellis Ross, and Renee Merrifield; business leaders Gavin Dew, Val Litwin, and Stan Sipos; and Kevin Falcon, a former B.C. cabinet minister.
Earlier today, the BC Supreme Court ruled the party could announce the winner of its leadership vote tonight despite an objection by a party member who sought a delay over concerns about voter irregularities. Vikram Bajwa suggested the leadership race could be tainted by voter fraud, and wanted the court to halt the process until an audit of their membership was completed.
Justice Heather MacNaughton disagreed: "One member's dissatisfaction should not uphold the process."
Concerns about new party memberships were also raised by several leadership candidates during the campaign.
The party gained more than 20,000 members during the leadership process for a total of about 43,000, who could vote online or by phone.
— with files from Jeremy Hainsworth, The Canadian Press
