'Particularly problematic': Leaders slam David Eby's election timing

Yesterday, we learned that B.C. residents will be going to the polls twice in October to vote in both local and provincial elections, after Premier David Eby called a snap election.

While the municipal election date has long been in the books (local elections are scheduled every four years on the third Saturday of October), B.C. wasn’t set to have another provincial election for another two years, on Oct. 21, 2028.

Eby’s decision has drawn criticism for two major reasons: the overlap with local elections, and the fact that the official opposition does not have a leader.

Elections BC has administered campaign finance and election advertising rules for local elections since 2014. They told Daily Hive that since they’ve had this mandate, they have not seen a general provincial election and general local election overlap (though they’ve seen by-elections overlap).

And on Sunday, Sept. 20, Kerry-Lynne Findlay stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party.

Over the past several weeks, the Conservatives had fallen into disarray under her leadership, with an exodus of MLAs.

Eby seemed to think this was the opportune moment to call a snap election — though he said it was about U.S. President Donald Trump threatening Canadian sovereignty.

Sanjay Jeram, a professor in political science at Simon Fraser University, said he’s watched “one surprise after another” in regard to B.C. politics.

But he wasn’t surprised by the unravelling of the Conservative Party.

“I think once Kerry-Lynne Findlay took leadership, the writing was on the wall that it was going to be a challenge to hold together already what was a challenging, divided caucus,” he told Daily Hive on the phone.

Jeram said that the series of events over the past few days is what surprised him — starting with Findlay’s resignation on Sunday.

Despite the Conservatives’ struggles, he said that if she had won a by-election there might have been an opportunity to “revive her fortunes.”

The Conservative Party has since appointed Lorne Doerkson, MLA for the Cariboo-Chilcotin, as interim leader.

Jeram was also surprised that Eby went ahead and called a snap election after Findlay stepped down. He said he can understand it as an opportunistic move from the NDP, as generally parties don’t pay a penalty for calling an election early.

“People gripe at first, but they tend to just sort of vote their position regardless. And there’s a lot of instances where early elections have led to people holding onto power, winning majorities.”

But Jeram said that it is uncommon to call an election while the opposition party is in a leadership transition.

“I think that would strike a lot of people as particularly problematic. It’s one thing calling an early election, but to do that in this context seems really opportunistic. Regardless of what Eby said, I don’t think anybody can really look away from that.”

Municipal leaders slam Eby’s election call

Numerous municipal leaders have spoken out, slamming Eby’s decision to call a snap election while campaigns for municipal elections are ongoing.

“British Columbia has separate election cycles for a reason. That principle shouldn’t be set aside because the timing looks politically convenient,” said Mayor Ken Sim in a statement.

“If an election is coming regardless, what is the harm in waiting 25 days until Vancouver and every other community in this province has finished voting? There is no version of this where calling it now, instead of after October 17, serves anyone but the governing party’s own interest,” he added.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver also sent a release decrying Eby’s decision.

“The timing is unfortunate, because Vancouver residents are already in the middle of an important civic election campaign,” says TEAM mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick. “Residents are already being asked to make important decisions about the future of their city, and that deserves their attention.”

Jeram said he understands their concerns.

“We have low voter turnout at municipal-level elections to begin with, and it’s hard to imagine that this is going to help,” he said.

But he also offered a more optimistic perspective, saying that it could mean people pay more attention to politics in general.

Overall, Jeram says he thinks that Eby probably wishes the municipal elections weren’t happening at the same time.

“I think it’s probably something like, ‘Well, this is our moment, and so be it if the [local] elections are going on.'”