NP View: The cure for Conservative Derangement Syndrome is to ignore it - National Post

Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out NDP supporters watch the provincial election results at the Marriott Pinnacle hotel in downtown Vancouver, on Oct. 24. (Jason Payne / PNG) By National Post View October 31, 2026 at 6:15 a.m. Last Updated: October 31, 2026 at 4:42 p.m. The B.C. Conservative election victory last weekend was an incredibly satisfying outcome for the party. Turfing the NDP after Premier David Eby called an election two years early offers many voters a sense of justice.

More important than Eby’s failed gambit, however, is just how much the NDP managed to turn off the electorate. The outgoing government embodied every progressive fad of the past 10-15 years, and in many cases took them to the extreme.

From legislation that forces all B.C. laws to align with UNDRIP to permissive drug policies that worsened the province’s already hellish problem with crime and disorder. And from out of control spending, even by NDP standards, to politicizing the school system to advance theories of “gender identity” that your average parents are just not comfortable with, to saddling business and infrastructure projects in red tape and consultations, it was only a matter of time before Eby was shown the door.

But rather than reflect on these failures and unpopular policies, progressive reaction to the Conservative victory has been to respond as if everyone who voted NDP has been personally violated.

There were countless social media posts expressing extreme sadness, anger and demands that non-NDP voters “reflect” on what they have done, as well one group organizing a “grief” swim, apparently to help process the election result. There were also weird non sequiturs like “these poor orcas are dead,” and outlandish claims that the election is proof of widespread racism.

Expecting the government to protect private property from land claims and expecting approval for business infrastructure projects without unending delay from First Nations is not racist. Supporting anti-bullying measures in school while opposing the notion that gender is on a spectrum is not “transphobic.”

Even so, the performative posturing against the new B.C. government wasn’t limited to no-name accounts. The B.C. Teachers Federation sent a letter to its members, which was posted on X by former Conservative staffer Lindsay Shepherd.

“I recognize that with the outcome of a Conservative government, many of us may be feeling disappointed, scared or deeply concerned about what might come next,” BCTF president Carole Gordon wrote.

“I know these results may be particularly concerning for Indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQIA+ members. You are not alone.”

Read that again. The BCTF wants those who voted for a party other than the one that won the election to know they are “not alone,” as if they have been each individually victimized by the election results.

Federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis issued what was on one level a typical statement lamenting the outcome. But he could not bring himself to congratulate the Conservatives, as would be customary for a politician, and he peppered his statement with the kind of language used when consoling someone suffering a mental health crisis.

“Today is a day to feel all the feelings,” he wrote, presumably without a hint of irony.

A similar strain of what might be called “Conservative Derangement Syndrome” played out during the Toronto mayoral election, as supporters of Olivia Chow portrayed her centre-right challenger Brad Bradford as representing dark interests. He was called “Maple MAGA” and his critics spread unfounded conspiracy theories about a plan to privatize water services, when all that he proposed was to create a publicly owned water corporation, not all that different from the CBC or Canada Post.

There is something deeply emotional and manipulative about how those on the left respond to the very existence of a Conservative party or conservative voters. A centre-right party to them is, by default, illegitimate.

We may be living in a secular age, but progressivism is treated as the one true religion. Any deviations are immediately dismissed as racist, “transphobic” or even a threat to humanity.

This is Old Testament fire and brimstone warnings dressed up in the language of mental health and “inclusion.”

The correct response from the incoming B.C. Conservative government, or from any conservative politician, is to ignore these reactions, as if they were coming from a toxic colleague.

Too often over the past decade, politicians on the right have conceded on issues such as extreme land acknowledgements or pronouns or DEI in an attempt to appease what is clearly an insatiable appetite for extortion: do as we say or we will call you names.

Enough. The public is more interested in good governance. Incoming B.C. premier Lorne Doerkson should feel no hesitation about bringing his agenda for which he was elected.

Ignoring Conservative Derangement Syndrome is the only way to cure it.

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