B.C. NDP leadership candidate Anjali Appadurai attends a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 17, 2022.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
David Eby will be acclaimed as the new leader of British Columbia’s governing New Democrats and is expected to be sworn in as premier soon, after the party’s executive council disqualified his only rival from the race.
Mr. Eby will replace Premier John Horgan, who led the NDP to power in 2017 and announced plans to step down in June. Mr. Eby, a civil-rights lawyer who has served for five years as B.C.’s attorney-general, will be the province’s 37th premier.
The NDP’s executive council met Wednesday night to vote on the leadership bid of Mr. Eby’s only competitor, Anjali Appadurai, and ultimately rejected her as a candidate. An internal report by the party’s chief electoral officer concluded that Ms. Appadurai “engaged in serious improper conduct” by co-ordinating with non-profit organizations to conduct membership drives, which she denied.
After four hours of deliberations, party president Aaron Sumexheltza released a statement that said Ms. Appadurai was disqualified “as a sanction for violating the rules.” The statement said the party would be moving up the election date with more details to come on Thursday.
B.C. NDP leadership candidate David Eby responds to questions while speaking with reporters in Vancouver, on Oct. 19.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Speaking at an unrelated event in Vancouver earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Eby said he would trust the party executive to protect the integrity of the leadership race. “I remain focused on engaging with New Democrats and British Columbians to build the future of our province together.”
Ms. Appadurai’s leadership bid exposed the NDP’s weak membership base and highlighted frustration with the party’s environmental policies. The climate activist was backed by Dogwood BC, which bills itself as a non-partisan “citizen action network,” and the activist group 350.org, which urged supporters to join the NDP to participate in the vote that would decide B.C.’s next premier.
“We can elect a true climate champion as the next party leader and B.C. premier,” the campaign promised.
Elizabeth Cull, the party’s chief electoral officer, alleged that this activity constituted a contribution from a third party that skirted political financing rules. Further, she found that Dogwood was encouraging people who belonged to another party to join the NDP for the purpose of supporting Mr. Eby’s challenger – a violation of the party’s rules.
Ms. Appadurai released a statement in response to the report, denying that her campaign did anything wrong and arguing that the NDP brass was determined to disqualify her. On Wednesday, her campaign team said thousands of supporters had deluged NDP headquarters with calls to let her run.
“Our campaign followed the rules, and this recommendation of disqualification is the result of a biased and unlevel playing field, repeated changes in interpretation of the rules, and ultimately – an attempt to control a situation in which an underdog candidate outorganized the front-runner, signing up many more members in just 25 days,” she said in the statement.
Her candidacy had tapped into frustration from environmentalists who say the NDP has not fundamentally proved different than the former Liberal government on fracking, liquefied natural gas, the Site C dam and old-growth logging. In addition, the NDP government is being sued for its failure to get the province’s climate targets back on track.
Elections BC says it is reviewing activities conducted by Dogwood to ensure that political-contribution rules under the Election Act are being followed, but no decision has been made.
Kai Nagata, communications director of Dogwood, said his organization did not commit fraud by encouraging people to join the NDP to support a climate activist for leader.
“The BC NDP has decided to attack Dogwood, the climate movement, and their own members. The people who control this party are terrified of grassroots democracy, because it threatens the status quo.”
Hamish Telford, a political scientist from the University of the Fraser Valley, said, “The optics are terrible. It looks like they are going to take out a young woman of colour so that an established, white male candidate can win by acclamation.”
Prof. Telford said Ms. Appadurai has campaigned on core NDP ideals, but as government, the New Democrats have had to be more pragmatic on policy. “It’s astonishing to me that they can’t find space for her in this leadership race, or this party.”
The federal Conservative Party had a similar campaign controversy in the summer when it disqualified Patrick Brown over allegations of financial irregularities.
Mr. Eby, former executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, was first elected in 2013 when he defeated then-premier Christy Clark in her own riding of Vancouver Point-Grey. After the NDP formed a minority government in 2017, he acted as one of Mr. Horgan’s most trusted lieutenants. The NDP won a majority government in a snap election in 2020, and it does not have to go back to the polls for another two years.
Mr. Horgan announced his decision to step down last June, after completing cancer treatment for the second time.
Mr. Eby is the only sitting member of government who put his hat in the ring, and he has the backing of the majority of the NDP caucus. Mr. Eby did not run a high-profile campaign for leadership, and he has so far only delivered one plank of his leadership platform.
The first leadership debate had been scheduled for early November, a month ahead of the scheduled leadership vote.