What was previously just speculation about a snap election call that would send B.C. residents to the polls this October has become nearly official, as the BC NDP has a press conference planned for 12:15 p.m. today.
It would also mean that B.C. residents would be going to the polls twice this October; once for a provincial election and once for a municipal election.
Ahead of the 12:15 p.m. conference, the BC NDP is on the defensive.
The party has been heavily criticized for calling an early election due to the overlap with the civic elections — the Conservative Party of BC is among those who have attacked the BC NDP.
But in an email to the media, the BC NDP is essentially saying that the Conservatives would have done the same thing.
“The minute the polls closed in 2024, the B.C. Conservatives promised to trigger an election “at the earliest possible moment,” the email stated.
“They moved a non-confidence motion in February 2025, with every single caucus member voting to trigger an election just four months after the last one,” it added.
The BC NDP is also saying that since then, the Conservatives have voted against nearly every confidence measure “and even called for an election this fall.”
The ruling party also quoted CentreBC’s Peter Milobar, who said, “We can always bring the government down in the fall session on a confidence vote then.”
There was supposed to be a Conservative Party of BC press conference today, which was cancelled due to the rumoured snap election call.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Conservative Party of BC responds, as it is currently under a bit of a restructuring since former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay announced her resignation. Under Findlay’s leadership, 10 MLAs left the party within the span of a month. Now, many MLAs have begun to rejoin the party, including former leader John Rustad.
With the BC NDP press conference less than a few hours away, there will certainly be more developments over the course of the day.