David Eby called a snap election this week, and justified the decision in some puzzling ways.

The premier’s message to British Columbians is that both Donald Trump and the BC Conservatives are a threat — to our economy, to affordability and our sovereignty as a province.

But hold up. David Eby isn’t running against Donald Trump. And all the terrible outcomes for British Columbia Eby listed would only be possible, according to him, if the Conservatives were to be put in charge. And THAT outcome is only possible if they were given the chance to win, like say in a snap election.

Eby said in these “uncertain times”, he feels the best course of action is to let voters decide our path forward. But we already did that, two years ago. For better or worse, a majority chose the NDP.

So who is this election really for? The right-leaning parties and the Greens all say they don’t want it. Polling, conversations with friends and family, and comments online show that most British Columbians don’t want it. Could this actually be an opportunistic play by the NDP to win a stronger majority, rather than an earnest attempt to “hear from the people”?

With the BC Conservatives in disarray, David Eby no doubt saw a chance to win a few more seats. But early polling shows the snap election call has erased the NDP’s lead.

This election is also a great distraction from a major scandal: the billion dollar hole in the budget created by the NDP’s failure to make gas companies pay the right amount into provincial coffers.

We as a public own the gas under our feet. And the companies who sell it are raking in cash, thanks to the war in the Middle East. But instead of collecting a fair share of those profits, the B.C. government is planning to LOWER the rates they charge those companies for extracting our gas.

On top of that, the B.C. government overstated its projected natural gas royalty revenues in their 2026 budget by nearly $1.5 billion due to a catastrophic accounting error. This miscalculation means the province will collect hundreds of millions of dollars less than anticipated, widening the provincial deficit even more.

British Columbians have been asked to accept the extraordinary harms of LNG based on the promise of the industry as an economic boon. But now we know there will be even less money for things British Columbians desperately need, like a functioning health care system and affordable places to live.

On the bright side, this election will give British Columbians a chance to call out NDP MLAs and the premier for their pitiful record on climate, Indigenous rights and the handouts they’ve been gifting the LNG industry. 

A month from now, we’ll find out if Eby’s snap election gamble pays off – or backfires on the NDP.