VANCOUVER, B.C. - Lorne Doerkson has named Kim Henderson, the former head of the British Columbia public service, to chair the government transition team that will prepare the Conservative Party of BC to take office after its victory in the October 24, 2026 provincial election.
The Conservatives won a projected majority in Saturday’s vote, taking 64 of 93 seats in preliminary results, and Doerkson is the projected next premier of British Columbia. Results remain preliminary until Elections BC completes the final count, scheduled for November 6 to 10.
Henderson to lead the handover on a volunteer basis
Henderson will lead the transition process as the incoming government prepares to take office, the party said in a release issued Sunday, October 25. She will serve as chair on a volunteer basis, and her unpaid leave of absence from Trans Mountain Corporation, where she has been interim vice president since October 2025, takes effect October 25.
“Kim Henderson has served this province at the very highest levels and understands what it takes to turn priorities into action,” Doerkson said in the release.
A career at the top of the BC public service
Henderson served until 2017 as Deputy Minister to the Premier, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the BC Public Service, the province’s top public service job, where she was responsible for oversight of government policy and operations and was the chief policy and strategy adviser to cabinet. She previously served as Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to Treasury Board, held senior roles in strategic policy and planning, and led a core review of government services.
After leaving the public service, Henderson consulted on major project development and on oil and gas, mining, forestry and Indigenous negotiations. In 2019 she was appointed to the MacKinnon Panel, the independent expert panel that advised Alberta on its finances and economy, and she has facilitated and co-authored three public reports with the Public Policy Forum and the Business Council of BC on exports and economic competitiveness. She has advised Trans Mountain Corporation since 2022.
Henderson holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Victoria, which recognized her with a Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2012 the Women’s Executive Network named her one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in the Public Sector Leaders category.
What the transition means for Surrey
Transition teams set the machinery of a new government in motion: briefing the incoming premier, sequencing the first cabinet decisions, and preparing the government’s earliest bills and budget work. The choices made in the coming weeks will shape how quickly the new government moves on the files that matter most in Surrey, where Conservative MLAs were elected in all 10 of the city’s provincial ridings on Saturday, including commitments on health care, transportation and policing in one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities.
A date for the swearing-in of the new government has not been announced. The BC NDP had not publicly responded to the appointment as of Sunday afternoon.
Source: Conservative Party of BC news release, “Premier-Elect Lorne Doerkson Names Kim Henderson Chair of Government Transition Team,” October 25, 2026.
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