Opinion: David Eby’s early election call backfired badly

Conservative Lorne Doerkson, a man who hadn’t even campaigned to be leader of his own party, will be B.C.’s next premier after his party won an election that didn’t need to be held against an opponent who largely defeated himself.

Even in a province long accustomed to unprecedented developments in its politics, this was a remarkable turn of events. Just two years since B.C.’s last provincial election, in the middle of the province’s regularly scheduled municipal election campaign, Eby sent voters back to the polls early.

Throughout the campaign, Eby struggled to justify the call. The initial explanation, offered at the start of the campaign, centred on the need for the province to draw a line in the sand against U.S. President Donald Trump.

Later, during the leaders’ debate, Eby tried a new line. He focused instead on the thinness of his one-seat majority — which was nonetheless still a majority — and the challenges that came with its management amid MLA sickness and the untimely passing of long-time NDP MLA Joan Philip.

Neither of these justifications made much sense, however. There was nothing new in late September 2026 on the Trump front that required a provincial reset. And as much as British Columbians agree that Trump is a problem, they evidently are looking to the federal government, rather than the province, to lead the country’s response.

Polls consistently showed provincial concerns were closer to home, related to affordability and access to core government services, particularly health care.

As for the unmanageability of the legislature, a thin majority is still a majority. This explanation therefore seemed opportunistic given that other governments, including previous iterations of the NDP, have done much with less.

These explanations rang all the more hollow given the obvious political motives behind the election call. The NDP had climbed back to a small lead in polls over the summer, and was facing a B.C. Conservative opposition in disarray.

The new Conservative party leader at the time, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, had made a number of controversial organizational moves, alienating much of her own party in the process.

By the weekend before the Sept. 22 election call, more than a dozen MLAs had either left or been expelled from the Conservative Party. Eight former Conservatives joined the nascent CentreBC party to create an alternative right-of-centre political vehicle.

Simply put, the simplest explanation seemed to be that Eby saw his chance to carve out a larger majority against a weakened opposition, and took it — consequences be damned. It was in fact a transparently obvious and particularly brazen bit of political opportunism, and voters saw it as such.

Once underway, the campaign proved demoralizing for voters and participants alike. The NDP’s initial script for the campaign focused not just on the need to stand up to Trump, but also on the elements of conservativism in the province that bore hallmarks of MAGA politics. Eby called out what he described as Conservative parties cosying up to Trump.