If burgers were votes, Lorne Doerkson might be your new B.C. premier

If burgers can truly act as beefy bellwethers, B.C.’s NDP is in a New West-style “bunfight” with the Conservative party in this month’s provincial election.

As has been tradition for nearly four decades, New Westminster’s Burger Heaven is conducting its “Bun-Official Burger Poll” to gauge the popularity of potential premiers in the Oct. 24 election.

The beloved burger joint has been doing these highly unscientific polls during every provincial and federal election campaign since the late 1980s.

Early returns suggest Lorne Doerkson has “mustard” enough momentum to take a small lead over David Eby. The Conservative party interim leader’s burger was running at 30 per cent as of Thursday, with Eby biting at his heels at 27 per cent.

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But the chaos created by the snap election might have politically minded burger lovers a bit confused. The “Bun-Decided Burger” is also polling well, running at 28 per cent.

The rest of the crowded field is playing “ketchup” with the front-runners. The Greens’ Emily Lowan Burger was at 10 per cent and both the Elenore Sturko (CentreBC) and Dallas Brodie (OneBC) burgers were trailing at 2.5 per cent each.

The restaurant playfully fashions the burgers with the candidates in mind. So Eby’s is a “Lean-to-the-Left” Grade A “Premier” beef burger, while Doerkson’s is “sizzling on the right burner” and includes a “Conservative slab of Chilcotin blue cheese.”

Lowan’s is, of course, a meat-free lettuce wrap that includes a slice of Green tomato and some Saanich goat cheese.

New West voters tend to skew left, said Burger Heaven manager Chris Gieb, so the NDP usually fares well in these provincial burger polls. That suggests Eby might be toast(ed) in his hastily called election.

Then again, the margin of error in the poll is basically plus or minus infinity.