When David Eby called the election in British Columbia, the NDP had 47 seats, the opposition party, the BC Conservatives had been reduced to 24 seats despite winning 44 in the last election.
There was a lot of infighting inside the BC Conservative Party and it looked like Eby’s NDP could catch the BC Conservatives with their pants down. We still have close to a month to go, but it appears that Eby is facing a lot of criticism for calling an early election.
It also appears that the BC Conservatives, regrouping and appointing Lorne Doerkson as interim leader is a good thing. Doerkson isn’t well known by the public but is well respected around the legislature.
While some of the online crowd who constantly call for purity tests and declare that anyone they don’t like is a fake Conservative, that doesn’t appear to be the case with Doerkson.
One of the leaders of his campaign team is Katy Merrifield, former director of communications for Pierre Poilievre. Last time I saw Katy in person, she was in the lobby of the BMO Centre in Calgary celebrating Poilievre’s leadership review vote numbers.
This week on the Full Comment Podcast, I turned to two BC political veterans for their insights. I can follow BC from afar, but unlike Ontario and Quebec, I’ve never lived there.
Vaughn Palmer has been covering the BC legislature for decades for the Vancouver Sun, while Les Leyne has been doing the same for the Victoria Times-Colonist for about the same 40 years.
They’ve seen a lot but never anything like this. Enjoy this short exchange on the election. I’m on the left, Vaughn is in the middle, Les is on the right.
You can listen to the full podcast, audio only, below. Or you can search and subscribe to the Full Comment Podcast where you listen to podcasts.
From the official show notes:
If you’ve got a majority government with two years left and an unpopular record to defend, calling a snap election might not seem like a great idea. But it did to B.C. Premier David Eby. Brian is joined by B.C. politics columnists Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun) and Les Leyne (Victoria Times-Colonist) to try to find method in Eby’s seeming madness. They consider his scheme to pounce on his rivals’ disarray, with the Conservatives at war over a divisive leader. But they seem to be quickly reconstituting themselves under a new, more popular captain, even as some star NDP candidates step aside. It’s all unfolding amid municipal elections already underway, creating confusion for voters, and leaving British Columbians baffled as to why it’s happening at all. (Recorded September 25, 2026)
There's a great uneasiness and anxiety about first Nations taking over private land. That's a big one! Eby spent 8 years secretly bargaining land away.
Anyone remember the last BC election where the results were delayed over a week? Funny how Ontario, the federal election and the Saskatchewan election that followed delivered their results on time.
Elections BC is an embarrassment