Tuesday October 22, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
Editorial & political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today Premier David Eby repeated several times in his first news conference since the stark results of the October 19, 2024 provincial election results: “We need to do better”.
After suitably first acknowledging the deaths of as many as five British Columbians in last weekend’s atmospheric river rainfall, most of the questions he answered (from his office in Vancouver) were about the election results that brought in 46 seats for the BC NDP vs 45 for the BC Conservatives.
BC Greens are the big story:
The BC Greens which won just two seats on election night are now really the biggest part of the story, especially as now their leader Sonia Furstenau is staying on as leader of the BC Green Party.
While Eby says he wants to get down to work right away to serve British Columbians — “we can’t waste a moment” and “nothing is off the table” — he really does need to wait until the BC Greens are ready to fill some important shoes, i.e. be the balance of power in the 43rd BC Legislative Assembly.
How the BC NDP campaign was run:
The phone line for today’s media availability was garbly and broken up — perhaps a reflection of the results and the mood of the BC NDP and their leader after a less than stellar campaign. For weeks, media and others pointed out that the BC NDP was too focused on trashing the opposition rather than articulating their own accomplishments over the past two if not seven years.
An editorial on October 3 by Island Social Trends suggested that the old style of politicking — including the use of targeted focus groups — that was recommended by the BC NDP’s campaign manager Marie Della Mattia is now out of touch with what people need to hear. BC NDP candidates had no choice but to follow the party’s campaign direction, but look at the result.
In addition to losing 16 incumbent MLAs including five cabinet ministers, the poor result of the BC NDP campaign should activate a rethink on how politics is done in BC.
BC politics gets played like a game, but it is not a game. People’s lives have been very difficult since the pandemic. That is not unique to BC, times are tough everywhere. But BC is a place with many resources, innovative people and robust communities. For sure, the government ‘can do better’.
Dogma vs action:
Considering the silver platter of a BC NDP majority that was handed to Eby in 2022 by former Premier John Horgan, the BC NDP did not rise to the task of meeting the needs of many British Columbians over the past two years.
Much work was done on legislation during Eby’s first two years — stuff that will take time to have impact (e.g. housing legislation). But short-term supports were only addressed through ‘affordability credits’, not the broader economic needs of the wider population including small business.
But this is a good example of how BC NDP politics becomes dogmatic — the very thing that the BC Conservatives were able to capitalize on. “John Rustad spoke very effectively to British Columbians about those frustrations,” said Eby about the BC Conservative leader and his campaign. People do want common sense, possibly regardless of which party delivers it.
It seems Eby hasn’t yet had time to dig deeper about realizing that people want better results in public safety, affordability and health-care. He gave no specifics today. He seems mostly focused on how he didn’t realize about the angst of many British Columbians that has obviously been building for at least two years since he became Premier.
The BC NDP are strongly governed by their belief in ‘process’. Well, sometimes a process need revision, noting the famous line by poet Robert Burns — “The best laid plans of mice and men”, or as John Lennon put it — “Life is what happens while you’re busy making plans.”
The BC NDP needs more common sense and vision in their decision making, not just run the ship ‘steady as she goes’ despite all good intentions. The BC Greens released a significant vision in their 2024 election platform, largely the vision of BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau and written by four key staff.
To be fair, Eby was busy running a complex government machine and Furstenau had time to pen her thoughts. Now that combination could result in some good governance for people in BC.
Timeline 2025:
Before the election it was already stated by Premier Eby that the 43rd Legislative Assembly would not return until February 2025 (starting of course with delivering a budget for 2025-2026).
Given the complexities of vote-count, the number of news MLAs, and sorting out a supportive working relationship with the BC Green MLAs, it’s not likely MLAs will be in their chamber seats this fall.
As published ahead of today’s press conference:
Today Premier David Eby will deliver his first press conference following the razor-thin results of the BC Election on October 19.
He will address media from his premier’s office in Vancouver.
Eby’s BC NDP party achieved 46 seats in Saturday night’s election, while the BC Conservatives won 45 and the BC Greens won in two ridings.
A majority in the BC Legislative Assembly now requires at least 47 seats (there were 93 electoral areas in the October 2024 election, up from 87 seats four years ago).
However, one MLA would need to be the speaker. So Eby will probably want to seek an alignment (e.g. supply and confidence agreement) with the BC Greens who got two MLAs elected on Saturday night. He has already indicated that likelihood — both in his election-night speech and even during the leaders debate held on October 8.
===== RELATED:
- Sonia Furstenau staying on as BC Green party leader (October 22, 2024)
- Premier David Eby’s first press conference following thin-margin BC election results (October 22, 2024)
- BC Greens celebrate Election 2024 in Victoria (October 19, 2024)
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