Provincial politics Early career and opposition In 1994, de Jong was recruited by
Gordon Campbell of the
British Columbia Liberal Party to compete against new
Social Credit Party (Socred) leader
Grace McCarthy in a by-election in Matsqui. The Socreds had represented the riding for 42 years until de Jong defeated McCarthy by a margin of 42 votes. He was regarded as very vocal on the opposition benches; he was ejected from the legislative assembly for calling then-
Attorney General Colin Gabelmann a "liar" and was later sued for libel by federal cabinet minister
Herb Dhaliwal. In 2004, de Jong removed 70,000 hectares of land from Tree Farm Licence 44 with no compensation from the owner and against the recommendations of ministry staff; this effectively privatized what had been
Crown Land without compensation to the province. The changes made allowed the wood to be exported as raw logs rather than lumber, and also allowed for eventual development of the land. The land in question was under dispute by the
Hupacasath First Nation and also the
Tseshaht First Nation; no consultation took place and the bands had since filed legal action. He has also been linked to other such privatizations of Crown forest land. After the
2005 election, de Jong became Minister of Labour and Citizens' Services. The following year, in a small cabinet shuffle, he became Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. In the
2009 election, de Jong ran in the newly created riding of
Abbotsford West. Following the election, in which the BC Liberals remained in office, de Jong was named Attorney General. On two occasions in 2010, de Jong stepped in as
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General while
Kash Heed was under investigation for campaign violations. That same year, de Jong faced controversy when he approved the payment of $6 million in legal fees for Liberal Party insiders David Basi and Robert Virk, who pleaded guilty to charges of breach of trust and accepting benefits in connection with the sale of
BC Rail in 2003. De Jong defended his actions saying the government's Legal Services Branch had recommended they not try to collect the funds since the aides did not have any money. On December 1, 2010, de Jong announced that he would seek the leadership of the BC Liberal Party to replace the outgoing Gordon Campbell, and resigned his cabinet post. During his campaign, he advocated for the provincial voting age to be lowered to 16. He placed fourth in the
2011 leadership election, which was won by
Christy Clark.
Clark ministry In
Clark's initial cabinet, de Jong was named
Minister of Health. He was appointed Minister of Finance on September 5, 2012, and in addition briefly served as Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism between March and June 2013. De Jong was re-elected in
2017 and remained as Minister of Finance. He finished his term as minister that July,
Return to opposition With Christy Clark resigning as leader, de Jong announced on September 26, 2017 his intention to run in the
2018 BC Liberal leadership election. His campaign placed an emphasis on education, including proposals to extend full-day kindergarten to four-year-olds, and to provide $500 each year to a child's
registered education savings plan. On January 18, 2018, de Jong and rival candidate
Andrew Wilkinson announced they had struck a deal to support each other as their second-ballot choices. De Jong placed fifth in a field of six, but his alliance with Wilkinson was critical to the latter's victory. He was re-elected in
2020, and was named shadow minister for Attorney General. His provincial seat was held by the Conservatives by
Korky Neufeld.
Federal politics On April 17, 2024, de Jong announced he was seeking the Conservative nomination for
Abbotsford—South Langley. On March 4, 2025, de Jong revealed on social media that despite the local Electoral District Candidate Selection Committee unanimously endorsing his candidacy, the party denied his application to seek the nomination by telling him that he was "not qualified". The
Globe and Mail later reported that the Conservative candidate, 25 year-old blueberry farmer
Sukhman Singh Gill, was selected by
Jenni Byrne. On April 15, 2025,
Ed Fast, the outgoing Conservative MP for
Abbotsford, the predecessor district of Abbotsford—South Langley, endorsed de Jong. Gill was elected in the election. == Electoral record ==