My name is David Eby, but I approve Kevin Falcon’s message. https://t.co/KddcerEHsc
— David Eby (@Dave_Eby) August 29, 2024
The original plan for covering the 2024 British Columbia election on October 19 was to explain the name change of the BC Liberal Party (not connected with the federal Liberals) to the BC United Party. We were also going to talk about the resurgence of the BC Conservative Party (not connected with the federal Conservatives).
Kevin Falcon, leader of the BC United Party (new name, formerly the BC Liberal Party), had been at odds with John Rustad, leader of the BC Conservative Party. Falcon kicked Rustad out of their party.
Then Falcon self-imploded the BC United Party, sending its incumbents and new candidates scrambling to stay on the ballot or even dropping out of the race. The BC Conservative Party picked up a few BC United candidates. Some former BC United people will run as independents. Some just won't run.
Meanwhile, David Eby has been premier since 2022 and this is his first election as NDP leader and premier.
The writ dropped Saturday on what should be an intriguing election. Where do the "free enterprise" centrists in British Columbia go? The NDP that believes in addressing the climate crisis vs. the Conservatives, whose leader isn't that concerned with climate change. A centrist may like the fiscal policy of the Conservatives and also be pro-vaccine.
Let's start with the nuts and bolts of the 2024 election. The number of seats in Victoria jump from 87 to 93 seats, so 47 is needed for a majority. David Eby and the New Democratic Party won 57 seats in 2020 and currently have 55. The BC United, the opposition party that is no more, won 28 seats in 2020 and has 23 seats. The Conservatives won 0 seats in 2020 and currently have 5 MLAs, including Rustad.
Sonia Furstenau, leader of the BC Green Party, is one of 2 MLAs, a number that has not changed. There are 2 current independent MLAs.
British Columbia decriminalizes some drugs but at a really low threshold
The decriminalisation experiment in British Columbia has little to no impact in the majority of the British Columbia ridings. Outside Vancouver and Victoria, there may be consternation about the policy but not a direct impact. Still, this will be an issue for the BC voters.
Eby made adjustments to pacify centrists and perhaps even some in the NDP camp. Will that be enough to sway voters who care more about this issue than other pressing topics? Something to watch for on
David Eby to replace John Horgan as British Columbia premier
David Eby is seemingly on the right side (left side?) politically on the climate crisis in this race. The centrists lose their party that cares about climate change. The Conservatives aren't that concerned.
So Eby comes out earlier this month with the announcement that the BC government would ditch the carbon tax if there wasn't a federal requirement. Eby's announcement came on the heels of NDP federal leader Jagmeet Singh taking a position about the costs o the carbon tax to lower-income consumers.
The province became the first Canadian jurisdiction to introduce a carbon tax in 2008. This was done under the BC Liberal Party with centrists and conservatives.
Both announcements are tied to the NDP getting out of the federal supply-and confidence agreement with the Liberal Party. Singh and Eby taking positions much more in line with opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and the federal Conservatives.
The BC premier cited the need to shift the burden to "big polluters." You can do both.
We can understand the cynicism of Eby taking some positions to appease to centrists in British Columbia yet this move doesn't do this.
British Columbia looks like a NDP majority government
British Columbia Saturday, Saskatchewan on Monday: Election results likely to be delayed
2020 British Columbia election preview
2024 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com British Columbia coverage
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
The 3 provinces with scheduled elections — British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan — had pandemic elections in the heart of the pandemic. They were seen more as keep the ship steady. The general thought is that the 2024 elections may be "throw out the baby and the bathwater."
We would argue that the situation in each province is very different. We watched the Canadian press take an odd interpretation in the 2 recent federal byelections almost as if they wrote the story before the results came out.
Twitter capture: @Dave_Eby
photo credit: BC United Party
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