Prime Minister David Eby can blame his predecessor for election speculation

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Eby insists he will spend the next two years serving the needs of British Columbia. The problem is that things got worse on many fronts under NDP watch.

Prime Minister David Eby smiles at ministers as they take the oath during a ceremony at Government House in Victoria on Wednesday December 7, 2022. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO /THE CANADIAN PRESS

VICTORIA Premier David Eby betrayed a hint of exasperation this week when faced with yet another question about the prospect of a snap election.

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I don’t know how many times I can say that, he replied. I pledge to hold fixed election dates for British Columbia. And the reason is quite simple. I was all over the province. I haven’t heard a single British Columbian say, my God, you know what I really hope happens now, it’s a provincial election.

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They said to take care of public safety. They said take care of housing, take care of health care. Make sure our economy is strong in the face of global headwinds. That’s what we were going to do.

The response was what journalists call a gatekeeper: a statement that is archived for reading when the politician who said it changes his mind for some reason and does the opposite.

For this skepticism, Eby can thank his predecessor, John Horgan.

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Twenty years ago, the BC Liberals enacted fixed election dates on a schedule of once every four years in May. When Horgan took office in 2017, he changed the four-year policy cycle from May to October to separate it from the spring budget cycle.

He and the entire NDP caucus signed a power-sharing deal with the Greens that committed them to governing for the full four years.

Then, in mid-2020, as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic approached, Horgan began planning for a snap election, all the while pretending it was the furthest thing from his mind.

New Democrats have sequestered more than $1 billion in economic stimulus funds, approved with all-party support in the Legislature, and revamped it as the first plank of their election platform.

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When the firm was alerted to a serious geotechnical problem on the multi-billion dollar Site C project, Horgan organized a review that extended coverage until after the election.

He concocted a bogus justification for tearing up the deal with the Greens, then called a vote.

The public told pollsters they didn’t want a snap election.

But once the deed was done, people focused on one question: Did they want to change governments in the midst of a pandemic? The Liberals, waging an incompetent campaign under a weak leader, made it easier to answer no.

Horgan won a huge majority.

He thus created a precedent for future governments to ignore the date of fixed elections if the conditions were right for an act of personal political interest.

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The BC Greens recalled Horgan’s cynicism on the eve of this week’s cabinet reshuffle. They announced that they were opening the nominations of candidates in anticipation of a possible triggering of early elections.

I sincerely hope that Prime Minister Eby abides by the law and carries out his mandate, said party leader Sonia Furstenau.

He gave me his personal assurance that the next time voters go to the polls will be in October 2024. Nevertheless, it is our job as a party to be ready for anything, so we will be ready for a early election if that happen.

Besides digging into the New Democrats, Furstenau also edged out the BC Liberals.

The Liberals could enjoy a head start in fundraising and nominating candidates, except they are changing their name without knowing when the actual change will take place. They could barely invite candidates to seek the nomination to run for a party that would be named later.

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The Greens announcement prompted a reporter to ask Eby about a snap election. It’s safe to say that New Democrats are frustrated with this line of questioning. This goes back to the days before fixed-date elections, when anything a government did after the middle of a term was interpreted as helping or hurting the chances of a snap election.

Eby, for his part, is adamant that he is not seeking to create the conditions for an election call, he is fulfilling the NDP’s mandate from the 2020 election.

We are two years old, he told reporters on Wednesday. We have a mandate from British Columbians to deliver. And I know my colleagues and myself, we did not go into politics to organize elections. We entered politics to serve British Columbians. We have the opportunity to do it and we were going to do it.

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In Eby’s mind, the term began with his swearing in as prime minister on November 18.

But many of the issues it’s trying to address—housing affordability, public safety, cancer treatment waiting lists, family doctor shortages, cost of living—have gotten worse since the government he is part of took office in 2017.

Eby thinks he and his team should have two more years to show what they are doing.

Yet it is also true that New Democrats have already, collectively, taken five years and made less than enough progress on the priorities he has now identified.

So voters may not be as patient with the Eby-led government as the new prime minister would like.

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