BC Election results send message to David Eby/NDP, by Harvey Oberfeld

by Harvey Oberfeld

Keeping it Real…

October 21, 2024

Politicians often forget they work FOR the people: they are hired BY the people; they are paid BY the people; they are supposed to deliver services FOR the people; and, they can be fired by the people!

Once elected too many instead lord OVER us; push their own publicly-unendorsed agendas, ideologically-driven policies and programs; pander to their narrow partisan base; cater to their major financial backers; and, then squeeze taxpayers for every dollar they can wring out of us to pay for it all … while ignoring the majority’s complaints, protests and growing daily struggles to make ends meet.

However, every few years, thanks to our democratic system, our politicians must submit to what really amounts to a job performance review by the people.

David Eby and his NDP government have now had their review … and let’s face it, received a bad score. In fact, they may still even be fired from their current positions when the review process is complete.

Tentative results (pending recounts) give the NDP 46 seats, the BC Conservatives 45 and the Greens 2. That’s a loss of 9 seats for the government, despite the addition of 6 more seats in the Legislative Assembly.

That is certainly NOT a great vote of confidence for a leader two years on the job and a party seven years in power!

Especially when you break down the vote count.

The preliminary popular vote figures show a turnout of 2,038,000 or 57.39% of eligible voters (compared to 53.86 in 2020 and 61.18% in 2017).

The NDP picked up 908,871 votes (44.6%); while those opposing them, the BC Conservatives garnered 887,828 votes (43.6%), the Greens captured 166,850 (8.2%) and Independents drew upwards of 61.000 votes (3.6%).

In other words, well over half of those who voted actually wanted to fire Eby and his government … and give others a chance to tackle BC’s problems.

That, in itself, is not unusual in a multi-party system: pretty hard to get more than 50% support among the total vote.

However, don’t forget that, just a year and a half ago, Eby and the NDP were repeatedly leading the polls by as much as whopping 20% spread!

Eby should now be embarrassed.

Where did it all go wrong … very wrong?

I attribute a lot of the blame to what I perceived as Eby’s own arrogance: a sort of “I don’t need no stinking election” attitude that went on too long after the NDP internally placed him in the Premier’s post when John Horgan resigned.

He waited almost two years to seek a mandate … until he could not legally delay an election any more. If he could, maybe he would have stalled even longer.

Readers of this blog may remember how, after Eby was six months in the Premiers job, I gently prodded him … when most of the mainstream media failed to do so … that he personally had no public mandate for any of the announcements/programs/changes or massive spending he was announcing/implementing.

But the Premier pressed on.

After a year in the post, I stepped up my criticism and my condemnations of Eby for not calling an election and seeking public approval for his agenda … as so many problems actually started getting worse … much worse.

Eby likely would still have won an election back then … but kept rejecting the idea: apparently preferring to listen to sycophantic media and pundits, who repeatedly defended his un-elected, unmandated reign and instead kept reminding the public Eby need not legally call an election before the legislated scheduled date, in October 2024.

Not legally, but ethically and strategically?

Eby waited … but clearly too long!

As the carbon tax kept increasing, housing costs went through the roof, hospital emergency room closures multiplied, druggies and mentally ill were increasingly and violently running amok in many communities, and BC’s Crown Counsel and provincial Court processes became a joke … but no one was laughing.

The bubble around the un-elected NDP Premier finally burst.

More and more people had grown dissatisfied, frustrated and even angry at the BC they now saw and experienced. They began looking for an alternative … and the BC Conservatives, who had not formed government since 1928 and last elected an MLA in 1978, suddenly came back to life … so much so, the party supplanted BC United in the polls … and ultimately, on the ballot!

Saturday was the day of voters’ revenge!

The ultimate result, even if Eby and the NDP do hold on to power, is they won’t have much of it!

With 46 seats, they would have to surrender one NDP MLA to become Speaker, losing a vote in the House, and also another NDP MLA to become Chair of the Committee of the Whole, who also apparently does not normally vote on issues.

Basically, the government will be crippled … forced to substantially moderate its legislative plans and objectives to gain necessary support from either the Conservatives and/or the Greens to get anything passed.

The Greens, by the way, would be smart NOT to enter into a formal support agreement with the NDP, but instead do a “Bloc Quebecois” move … only agree to prop up the government on specific Legislative votes, IF Eby/NDP give them some concession, or maybe even two or three.

And those concessions would cost the taxpayers a LOT! The Greens support more public drug consumption sites, free public transit for all, increased welfare and disability rates to above the poverty line, higher carbon taxes and prohibition of any new LNG projects. etc. etc.

Think of the impact of any of those ideas/plans on BC’s deficit, economy, debt … and your taxes … just to keep Eby and the NDP hanging on to power !

It won’t work.

Something tells me regardless of the final outcome of this year’s voting results, and the wheeling and dealing the politicians will do, we won’t wait four years this time for the next election!

Harv Oberfeld