Adam Pankratz: David Eby’s opportunistic election comes at B.C.’s expense

VANCOUVER — B.C. Premier David Eby called an unnecessary election on Tuesday afternoon, not even two years into his existing mandate. The premier already has a majority government and legislation dictates the next vote wasn’t to be held until October 2028.

Given the state of the province, an early election to put the current government back in power is the last thing British Columbia needs. Eby, however, could not resist the opportunity currently presented to him: the cover U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war provides and, more importantly, a fiercely divided Conservative party led by an interim leader.

Despite leading in the polls, the gamble may not pay off for Eby, as the threat of annihilation is focusing the minds of B.C. Conservatives, encouraging MLAs who left or were kicked out to return to caucus. Negotiations reportedly started Monday night to merge with the Centre B.C. party, which is now being led by Pete Milobar, one of the MLAs who left the Conservative caucus over the summer. It is possible that Eby’s naked opportunism will result in a stronger mandate, but it could very well toss him out of office two years ahead of schedule.

B.C. is in a sorry state following years of NDP mismanagement under Eby. B.C.’s projected deficit is now $13.8 billion, according to a fiscal update last week. That’s $500 million more than projected back in February. This projection comes on the heels of record deficits for the past three years: $5.9 billion in 2023, $7.3 billion in 2024 and $9.6 billion in 2025. Deficits over $10 billion are expected in the coming years, as well.

Eby’s fiscal profligacy after he inherited a budget surplus from John Horgan in 2022 is something generations of British Columbians will be left to deal with. The province is a financial and fiscal train wreck of epic proportions and that falls squarely on David Eby’s shoulders. Sadly, that’s not all British Columbians have been subjected to during his tenure.

Eby has also been at the helm for the province’s terrible roll-out of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which sought to align provincial laws with the United Nations declaration of the same name (UNDRIP). The UNDRIP principles are fundamentally at odds with British Columbian and Canadian law. For example, Article 26 states that, “Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use.” That is to say, if an Indigenous group claims a territory, it owns it and all its resources.

This has caused incredible uncertainty around who actually owns what. Worse, following the notorious Interpretation Act that the NDP passed, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled UNDRIP was positive law in Canada. That is to say that all the principles of UNDRIP are now law in British Columbia, and apply to previous as well as future laws, with all the consequences that flow from that.

Eby’s NDP also decided decriminalizing hard drugs was sound public policy when it requested an exemption under federal law to effectively legalize possession. The results were a disaster from the get go. While the NDP did finally walk back the policy after public outrage, the results were clear for anyone to see. More open drug use in the streets became a common Vancouver sight and led to serious public safety concerns. Worse, the policy had no effect on opioid deaths and resulted in increased hospitalizations on top of dystopian downtown street scenes.

Such fiscal mismanagement and ideologically driven decision making has seriously harmed the province. GDP per capita is now in the bottom of North American jurisdictions, behind Louisiana and only marginally ahead of Alabama. B.C. residents have noticed and some have become so fed up, they’ve left. In 2025, for the first time in its 151-year history, B.C. experienced a decline in population. High rents, expensive housing, slow economic growth and little prospect of things getting better all added up to 41,000 people deciding they had no future in the province. That’s as damning an indictment of a government as you’re likely to find.

So put that all together. B.C.’s economy is sluggish, public safety has deteriorated and there is uncertainty surrounding who actually owns the land and resources. Add to that the fact that the province is drowning in red ink with no real plan to fix the fiscal mess it is in. That is not the resume of a government that would normally want to go to the polls early. And yet, here goes David Eby dropping the writ on British Columbia.

For this, the B.C. Conservatives and their former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay must take a share of the blame. Findlay resigned on Sunday after her controversial tenure at the helm became untenable. The party’s infighting and poor leadership is a massive gift to the NDP. When Findlay took over the party, the B.C. Conservatives had 38 MLAs, by the time  she resigned the caucus had dropped down to 25.

Thirteen MLAs left, or were kicked out (some of whom have now returned) and more reportedly had been considering leaving before Findlay finally quit. The Vancouver Sun reported Tuesday that the party’s board was dismayed over a “fall in party memberships and the drying up of party fundraising, while business leaders were withholding donations.” In Findlay’s wake there has been left a trail of destruction, which will be difficult to rebuild.

That said, if a merger between Centre B.C. and the Conservatives can indeed be accomplished quickly, Eby may not get the cakewalk of a campaign he is counting on. Under normal circumstances, the NDP would be facing certain defeat. However, the premier has opportunistically pounced on the current chaos on the B.C. centre-right, which might offer him a path to saving his own skin at the expense of the province. It remains to be seen if voters will go along with his plan.

National Post

Adam Pankratz is a lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.