B.C. NDP Leader David Eby speaks during a provincial election campaign announcement at Peace Arch Provincial Park near the Canada-U.S. border in Surrey on Wednesday.Darryl Dyck/The Associated Press
David Eby wants to be very clear why he called a snap election, only two years after British Columbia went to the polls. It’s about Donald Trump and Saskatchewan potash, and Trump and culture wars, and Trump and health care, and Trump and chaos. Did we mention Trump? Because it’s mostly about Trump. The province needs to build a firebreak against the destructive U.S. President, he argued.
Of course, the fact that the Opposition is in a state of hapless disarray could not possibly be part of Mr. Eby’s calculations. It goes without saying, this is about the good of the province. As Mr. Eby argued, residents need the chance to choose between his excellent solutions and the awful vision of the Opposition.
B.C. Premier David Eby calls snap election
Outside the alternate reality of Mr. Eby, though, this is clearly about capitalizing on a wounded Opposition.
The election call is legal, in that the rules permit it, and also quite unseemly. In politics, sometimes the electoral ends don’t justify the cynical means. Calling this election tramples on democratic norms, ignoring that democracy is about more than winning elections.
This is not to say that Mr. Eby’s gambit won’t pay off. Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a (slightly less) opportunistic decision last year, citing the same threat posed by Mr. Trump, going to the polls more than a year early and securing a third majority. Had he waited until the scheduled election date this past June, he would have been facing the electorate with his popularity at a record low.
However, cynicism doesn’t always pay. In 1990, an Ontario premier named David Peterson was buoyant in the polls and called a snap election. The electorate was not amused and gave his Liberal Party a spanking, vaulting the NDP into government. Mr. Peterson lost his own seat.
Opinion: David Eby’s snap election call is cynical and self-serving
Mr. Eby already has a majority, and a long list of priorities – including amending Indigenous rights legislation that has muddied property rights in the province – that could fill his calendar. The hardest question for him may be justifying why he really called the election.
It was less than a month ago that Mr. Eby announced a by-election, which had been scheduled for this Saturday, that could have allowed the then-Conservative leader to enter the legislature. Although Mr. Eby argues that pivoting to a general election is about the trade war, what has really changed is the state of the Opposition.
The Conservative Party of British Columbia has been falling apart for weeks and its leader resigned on the weekend. The prospect of going to the polls has sharpened minds among the Opposition factions, though, and they seem to be re-coalescing into something cohesive enough to contest this election.
In his announcement Tuesday, Mr. Eby tried – rather unconvincingly – to blame Mr. Trump. While the U.S. trade war on Canada does indeed pose a threat to British Columbia, that is not a particularly new turn of events. And Mr. Eby is acting already to counter the impact of the trade war.
In fact, the B.C. government recently announced a pause on a planned expansion of provincial sales tax on professional services, citing the uncertainty caused the trade war, and also a $90-million support package for businesses affected by tariffs.
In the news release announcing the aid package, Mr. Eby was quoted saying that “we won’t let decisions made in Washington determine our future.” Ironically enough, given that he is also blaming those same decisions made in Washington for a vote that will, after all, determine the province’s future.
Ask us your questions about B.C.’s snap election
Regardless of how his party fares in this election, Mr. Eby will have succeeded in damaging democracy by ignoring its norms. Such norms grow organically over time, often unnoticed, and help ensure the success of democracy.
For evidence of the importance of such norms, one need look no further than the supposed reason Mr. Eby called this election. Mr. Trump has spent years spitting on traditional democratic norms. He has got away with this behaviour because his own party refuses to rein him in. By doing so, they have allowed him to create new norms, debased and undemocratic ones that may outlive his presidency.
Proper democracy is about the people speaking through an elected leader – and that leader respecting the people. That confers legitimacy. It is also about respect and reverence for the process, not just playing to win.