Dosanjh was not, however, able to restore the party's public image, and the BC NDP suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the British Columbia Liberal Party (BC Liberals), led by former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell.

The BC Liberals won over 57% of the popular vote, and an unprecedented 77 of the 79 seats in the provincial legislature—the largest victory in the province's electoral history.

The party lost almost half of the share of the popular vote that it had won in the 1996 election, while its seat count fell from 39 seats to only two—those of Deputy Premier and Education Minister Joy MacPhail and Community Development Minister Jenny Kwan.

In those elections, the governing party–the New Brunswick Tories, the United Farmers of Alberta and the PEI Tories–was completely wiped off the map.

Dosanjh resigned as party leader soon after the election; he had actually conceded defeat a week before voters went to the polls.