A former deputy premier who's held many cabinet posts is the next leader of the Official Opposition in B.C.

Kevin Falcon defeated six other rivals on the fifth ballot, including MLAs Michael Lee, Renee Merrifield, and Ellis Ross. The other three candidates were Gavin Dew, Val Litwin, and Stan Sipos.

From 2001 to 2013, Falcon represented Surrey-Cloverdale in the legislature. He held the following porfolios: finance, health, transportation and infrastructure, and minister of state for deregulation. He lost the 2011 B.C. Liberal leadership race to Christy Clark.

Over the years, Falcon has been identifed as a federal Conservative and he supported Maxime Bernier in the party's 2017 leadership race. Since then, Falcon has expressed regret over doing that, though he told CHNL broadcaster Brett Mineer that he liked many of Bernier's economic ideas.

In recent years, Falcon has worked for Anthem Capital, overseeing investments in a range of areas, including housing development.

The leadership race was triggered when former leader Andrew Wilkinson resigned following the 2020 election, which the NDP won in a landslide.