"Pulling an Eby" October 24, 2026

 As reported by National Post columnist Adam Pankratz, "A new word entered the political lexicon of British Columbia Saturday night: “to Eby.” 

Sadly for its namesake — outgoing premier David Eby — it is not an auspicious word. It means massive self-inflicted failure due to a colossal and hubristic miscalculation. Indeed, the scale and magnitude of Eby’s misreading of the B.C. electorate in calling his early snap election cannot be understated and it may well be the greatest political blunder in Canadian history. The resultant electoral rout will be studied and referenced for decades as a stunning backfire and cautionary tale of what can happen when a politician loses sight of the people and makes decisions for their own political benefit."

Adam is spot on in his assessment. Eby called this election, in the middle of the municipal elections, because he thought the opposition was in disarray and he could improve the NDP's standing. Kerry-Lynne Findlay had won the Conservative Leadership Race and immediately alienated much of the party. Three other parties had been formed, Centre BC; another led by Peter Milobar who had lost to Findlay; and One BC, a very right wing party led by Dallas Brodie. So Eby called the election claiming it was to fight Trump and no one believed him. So soon he changed his tune and said it was to increase the party's narrow majority. This time people believed him but were disgusted and it showed last night when the Conservatives routed the NDP. 

In years gone by, I liked Eby and even donated to one of his early campaigns. But as I watched John Horgan's $5 billion surplus dissipate into a $13.4 billion deficit, and the NDP announce increases to its Speculation and Vacancy Tax and Additional School Tax (AST), both of which were seriously harming the development community; and cancel badly needed seniors facilities and funding for community housing; and then announce an Empty Condo Tax to stop developers from HOARDING unsold condos, I desperately wanted to see him go. 

Last night Eby won his seat, but resigned in disgrace as leader since his party went from approximately 46 seats to 27 seats. 

Now the question is what NDP policies will the Conservatives change. They have already announced they are going to switch the proposed tunnel under the Fraser back to a bridge. They also promised to repeal Bill 44, the Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing Program that absurdly allows multiplexes on every single-family lot in the province in communities of 5,000 or more. Now the question is whether he'll repeal Bills 43 (which sets municipal housing targets without any regard to availability of services or market conditions) and 47 the Transit-Oriented Area legislation which sets MINIMUM heights and densities, or modify them. I am hoping he will also revisit the Speculation and Vacancy Tax and Additional School Tax and make amendments so that they are less harmful.

For those who don't know about the AST, it was introduced as a tax on luxury homes and severely impacts the Westside of Vancouver and West Vancouver. Notwithstanding its name, the revenue doesn't go towards the funding of schools. It just goes into general revenues. Moreover, while most people think it just taxes luxury houses, it also applies to residential development sites awaiting approvals and a start of construction. It's terribly ill-conceived and should either be repealed or seriously amended.

Time will tell. It will also tell whether we have elected a party of anti-vaxer rascists, as many on Facebook fear, or just some people with a lot of common sense who are committed to getting the economy back on track. Let's hope it's the latter.