Former MLA Ravi Kahlon reflects on election, NDP leadership race and B.C.’s future

Daily Hive spoke with former MLA Ravi Kahlon about the B.C. election result and the province’s direction after the Conservatives won a majority. Before the snap election, Kahlon represented Delta North for the BC NDP and served as health minister. He was housing minister before that, contributing to major changes in local housing rules, including short-term rental regulations intended to lower rents across the province. Kahlon is a member of the Delta Sports Hall of Fame and an Olympic field hockey player. He first ran for office with the BC NDP in 2017, served as parliamentary secretary for sport and multiculturalism under former premier John Horgan, and won re-election in 2020. After Horgan retired in 2022, Kahlon co-chaired David Eby’s campaign. Kahlon was re-elected in 2024.

Kahlon announced he would not seek re-election just hours after Eby called a controversial snap election that was highly unpopular. “The result is the result. It was clearly not the right call. The mood wasn’t there from the public,” Kahlon told Daily Hive Urbanized. He called the outcome disappointing and challenging, saying reactions among people he had spoken with ranged from sadness to anger. On election night, Kahlon posted a message thanking Eby and his family for the sacrifices of public life and congratulating Lorne Doerkson on his next chapter of service to B.C. Kahlon said he meant the message and recognized that the campaign had been difficult for Eby. Having three young children who need his time while also serving the province is hard, Kahlon said, noting the election’s effect on Eby’s family.

Kahlon declined to weigh in on whether Eby should have called the election, saying he would not be an armchair quarterback. But when considering whether to seek re-election, Kahlon said he asked himself whether he wanted to miss important moments in his son’s life. His father, who was always working, died six years ago. “I did not want that for my kid,” he said. He also did not want that for his partner, who had essentially been raising their child on her own for 10 years.

Since stepping away from politics, Kahlon has been spending more time with his family and adjusting to the change. “It’s killing me,” he said, mostly joking. He said he often jokes with his sister that people hide their trauma in work. Kahlon had always been “go, go, go,” and the sudden stop has been difficult. He recalled his son telling him, “I don’t know what it would be like to have you around all the time.” Kahlon said the comment broke his heart and that he needed to step away and take a break.

**Questions about Conservative housing policy**

Conservative Party Leader Lorne Doerkson, whose party won a major election victory, is not expected to be sworn in until mid-November. The incoming majority government could make significant policy changes, including to Bill 44, which it intends to repeal or overhaul. The bill shifts some authority away from local governments and requires cities with more than 5,000 residents to allow small-scale, multi-unit housing in neighbourhoods previously restricted to single-family homes. Asked for his view as a former housing minister, Kahlon said the fundamental questions are what housing policy is trying to do and whom it is meant to serve.

Kahlon said he wanted young people to have the opportunity to live and stay in their communities, raise families and have options beyond condominium living. He suggested the Conservatives appeared to be taking a different approach. Rents could rise again if the market is opened to investors, he said, and without opportunities to build new types of housing in neighbourhoods where people want to live, young people may leave the province because they cannot afford to stay. Kahlon acknowledged criticism of small-scale multi-unit housing but said he had also heard positive feedback, including that fourplexes can let families live with their children. He said the housing has made a difference and that the Conservatives must explain what their policy is intended to solve and how repealing Bill 44 would help young people remain in their communities.

Asked about the next four years under a Conservative majority, Kahlon said he wanted to give Doerkson time before criticizing his leadership. He compared the incoming government’s structure with that of Gordon Campbell, the premier and BC Liberal leader in the 2000s. Campbell cut corporate taxes and oversaw major infrastructure expansions. He also introduced the controversial Harmonized Sales Tax; a series of events related to the tax ultimately led to his resignation. Kahlon said the government’s structure looked “exactly like the Premier Campbell government.” He expects the Conservatives may say the economy is poor and the budget is worse, requiring cuts. Kahlon said they had seen the budget and understood the challenge, yet made $5 billion in commitments while promising not to raise taxes. He said he would be watching how the government reconciles those positions.

Kahlon also expressed concern about how the Conservatives will deal with First Nations. He said the party had sold the public, or much of it, on the idea that getting rid of DRIPA would solve all concerns about private property. “The truth is that it was never that,” he said. The government will now have to address the commitment it made to the public, which Kahlon said would not produce good outcomes for Indigenous people or economic development. He added that criticism is easier than governing and said he wanted to give Doerkson room to show what he can do.

Asked whether it was too soon to consider his own next move, Kahlon said there were many good leaders in the BC NDP. He named Niki Sharma, Josie Osborne and Ravi Parmar as potential future leaders. He also mentioned people outside the party, including popular Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West and the possibility of Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley. Kahlon said he was confident the movement would have a strong leader for the next election. He will explore his own options “down the road”; for now, his focus is giving his family time he could not give them in the past.