It cost $82.4 million, or $22.84 per registered voter, to administer the 2024 provincial election, Elections BC said in a report released today.

Those costs include $320,120 for electoral office expenses specific to the Cowichan Valley riding, including items such as staff wages, office rent and expenses, voting place rental, and ballot and voter list printing.

NDP candidate Debra Toporowski, a former councillor with both North Cowichan and Cowichan Tribes, won the provincial election with 40.51 per cent of the vote.

Conservative John Koury received 37.59 per cent, and the Green Party’s Cammy Lockwood 19.83 per cent.

Elections BC details the amount of election expense reimbursements paid to date per candidate in the Cowichan Valley riding: Toporowski, $30,500; Lockwood, $21,104; and Koury, $11,660.

The report says that under the Election Act: “Eligible parties and candidates can be reimbursed for up to 50% of their eligible expenses, up to a maximum of 50% of the election expenses limit."

Elections BC has so far opened 270 investigations in relation to the 2024 election, resulting in nine administrative monetary penalties.

Read the full report: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/rpt/Report-of-the-CEO-PGE2024-Vol-II.pdf

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— Larry Pynn, Sept. 24, 2025