If the Municipal election results proved anything, it was that BC voters … province-wide … really care about the ISSUES most affecting us.
We are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” when it comes to: high taxes; ever-increasing development fees, parking rates; deteriorating community centers, schools, pools; homelessness, druggies and crazies everywhere; as are thieves, muggers, stabbings …endangering our very safety just walking down our streets.
The result showed it: incumbent leaders (Mayors and Councillors) in a dozen cities and towns throughout the province were turfed from office: Vancouver; Surrey; New Westminster; West Vancouver; Prince George; Port Moody; Kamloops; Vernon; Langley City; Langley Township; ?Delta; Maple Ridge.
Voters want RESULTS, not just PROMISES and PANDERING to their elected officials’/bureaucrats’ favored few!
And I believe incumbent provincial NDP politicians and strategists have been well aware of their own weaknesses in that regard for some time now … on the economy, jobs, rising unemployment, people leaving the province by the thousands, increasing hospital Emergency closures, long health care waitlists, homelessness, druggies, crime, Courts, revealed secret land deals with First Nations, DRIPA.
So in the current provincial campaign the NDP have been trying a different tactic to divert attention: mud slinging.
Within 15 minutes of the start of the televised debate, NDP Leader Dave Eby zeroed in on PERSONAL weaknesses among the BC Conservatives and their candidates … a theme he returned to repeatedly during the debate and ever since.
“When you have the campaign director attacking Muslims; when you have a candidate in Chilliwack telling a colleague that she’s immoral because she’s gay and linking people who are gay to being pedophiles; and, when you have the leader of the party who voted for “An Act to Repeal the Human Rights Code”, I struggle to know what areas we have in common,” Eby admonished Doerkson.
Eby also told TV viewers … in a debate segment entitled “Why you should be Premier” … that the Conservatives’ campaign manager’s Twitter feed “reads like the worst corners of the Dark Web.”
Nothing to do with the issues, but no doubt about it: embarrassing for the Conservatives.
Friday, Doerkson fired the party’s candidate in Vancouver-Strathcona for a social media post suggesting “Hitler “may not have intended death” during the Holocaust, and that “lots of Jews died” not because Hitler “hated them specifically” but because there were so many of them.” (Read the story here: https://www.castanet.net/news/Metro-Vancouver/634545/B-C-Conservatives-dump-candidate-accused-of-making-Hitler-remarks.)
Two weeks ago, Doerkson also dropped the Conservative Victoria-Beacon Hill candidate, who wrote on social media that ” a car running into a pro-Palestinian rally in Lausanne, Switzerland. “Il aurait du faire une marche arrière aussi,” he wrote in French, which translates as “He should have reversed too.” (That story here: https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/10/08/No-Excuse-Doerkson-Fires-Conservative-Candidate/).
And the NDP has also repeatedly drawn attention to statements by the Conservatives’ campaign manager for, as CTV News put it, ” some provocative anti-Islam social media posts” and incumbent MLA and Chilliwack North candidate Heather Maahs, who “hosted a reception at the B.C. legislature in 2025 for a group called the Association for Reformed Political Action, a Christian lobby group that believes homosexuality is immoral, abortion should be criminalized and conversion therapy bans should be reversed.” (More here: https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-conservative-leader-disagrees-with-candidates-lgbt-remarks-but-wont-remove-her-as-candidate/)
Great fodder for Eby/NDP … and a diversion from their own record in office dealing with the hard issues impacting British Columbians.
Until the Conservative Leader struck back!
“You had a woman leave your caucus, either because she didn’t feel safe or she didn’t feel supported with regard to comments made by many in your caucus,” Doerkson reminded Eby.
Selina Robinson was an NDP MLA from 2013 to 2024 and served as both the Minister of Finance and Minister of Post Secondary Education.
She was also Jewish and a strong supporter of Canada’s Jewish communities and Israel.
Eby fired Robinson as Minister after “her controversial remark describing pre‑1948 Palestine as “a crappy piece of land” (Wikipedia) … but her woes didn’t end there. Robinson apologized, but said later she still encountered antisemitism within the NDP caucus … enough to make her quit and sit as an Independent in the Legislature.
One media pundit termed the Jewish MLA’s treatment by the BC NDP as a “lynching”. (Full story here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/the-despicable-untruths-behind-selina-robinsons-political-lynching).
What a terrible indictment for a party whose members speak so often publicly about our need for understanding, compassion, accommodation and cultural sensitivity … especially for minorities!
“Does anti-Semitic behaviour in your caucus qualify as hate or not?” the Conservative Leader asked Eby. “Selina Robinson left your caucus because she did not feel safe or didn’t feel supported by you.”
Eby did not answer the question.
Earlier this month, the Conservatives also questioned Eby’s approval of former NDP Richmond-Queensborough MLA and current Vancouver-Fraserview candidate Aman Singh “after his well-documented history of antisemitism”. (Full release here: https://conservativebc.ca/why-did-david-eby-appoint-aman-singh-with-his-history-of-antisemitism/).
“Within days of the October 7th terrorist attack that claimed the lives of thousands of Jews, Aman Singh called for the Government of British Columbia to make a public statement about the plight of the Palestinians,” the party said in a press release.
And just last week, another NDP candidate, Linda Li, running for the party in Richmond , was fined $8,500 by BC’s Financial Services Authority for THREE real estate-related violations: conflict of interest; backdating signatures; and, providing incomplete and misleading information. (details here: https://www.richmond-news.com/2026-bc-votes/bc-votes-richmond-bc-ndp-candidate-sanctioned-by-financial-authority-12904080.)
Looks to me like the Conservatives AND the NDP both live in glass houses when it comes to impropriety, extremism, racism and intolerance within their caucuses.
Better they stick to the economy, health care and crime … issues the public REALLY care about … before they both end up covered in mud when they pretend their candidates are morally/ethically better than their opponents.
Harv Oberfeld
🇨🇦🇨🇦Check the labels! BUY CANADIAN!🇨🇦🇨🇦
(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this BC Blog.)
Glass hoses indeed!
The Conservatives, who have screamed to all about BC’s deficit and NDP waste, are now championing at $3.5 billion SkyTrain extension to Rootin Tootin Newton, to move a peak hour traffic flow of around 1,500 persons per hour per direction.
So much for fiscal responsibility, don’t they know SkyTrain finance is a large part of the BC deficit?
“Better they stick to the economy, health care and crime … issues the public REALLY care about ”
++++
Sadly we Boomers are in decline.
Common sense issues…don’t resonate.
The kids today vote for free transit, and “White Guilt” causes…while wearing Palestinian keffiyehs.
I voted last weekend for the Provincial election and hope and pray enough people have the common sense that God gave an apple to boot Eby to the curb.
(Response: Given the state of BC’s economy,job losses, forestry shutdowns, deficit,debt, hospital closures … and so many broken promises, it boggles my mind that people can listen to Evie, making all kinds of new promises… That I have no doubt he will postpone or just cancel if he gets another term. The BC conservatives should be given a chance to show what they can do: surely it couldn’t be worse than what we’ve had for the last four years!Ho)
We are not alone in this world fighting rising costs. Governments seeming out of control on spending. Look at Paris and other cities where the public is mad and fed up. Soon you will see the same in the US in the mid terms. We do it differently we actually vote ….let’s move on to the Provincial results when they come in … will see something different I am sure …
(Response: You are quite right: worldwide, government overspending, to satisfy ever-growing public demands, combined with terrible waste (do BC health authorities really need 62 Vice Presidents?) has led to terrible deficits, debts. And then there’s the corruption, cost of fighting terrorism, wars. Many societies need a “reset” … and hopefully BC voters will vote for that (conservatives) this time! If they get our deficit, debt, economy under control and stop giving away, pandering to First Nations so much … I can deal with all the wacko statements some of their members may say! Ho)
I spent Sunday morning walking around the Pont Gray area with area with friend after staying in Vancouver having arrived on a late-night flight. Given it was Vancouver, I was not surprised to see COPE and Green signs, along with NDP signs on the lawns around the area. Just more evidence that the progressive left no longer represents working people, as is well known it now favours social equality and civil rights over economic equality and working-class needs. Like what was learned from the Quebec election and the results from Alberta, the rural urban divide is just becoming more pronounced in Canada. David Goodhart’s divide of the somewhere people from the anywhere people.
On the basis of the Vancouver and Victoria municipal elections I will not be surprised to see another NDP minority government. Cities hold the key to provincial and federal power. I guess it will all depend on the vote in Surrey.
Did not vote in my municipal election, Mayor won by acclamation, no one else wanted the job and could not bring myself to vote in an at-large system of 27 candidates for six seats on council. A campaign that resembled a high school student council election more than a serious political debate about a community’s future. Time for BC to adopt a ward system like other parts of the country and some BC’s regional districts to improve voter turnout.
(Response: I keep going back and forth when I try to predict which party will win Saturday: when I think how close the vote was last time … and look at Eby’NDP’s terrible record in jobs, economy, health care, crime, First Nations pandering since then, I figure they’re in for an ass-kicking this time; but then I recall that so many ridings in BC are “guaranteed” NDP seats, I wonder if the Conservatives can really flip enough to win? Should be an exciting Saturday eve! 🙂 Ho)
I voted Friday in the advance poll. Fourth in line at 8am, doors opened at 8:10, both ballot machines broke at voter 3. I got out at 8:40. I “X”-ed Emily Lowan, to feel like I did my duty without a turned stomach and believe she needs some encouragement with little harm done. I’ll be fine if the Greens hold the balance of power, either way it goes.
Skipped the local vote on Saturday. Mayor acclaimed and I already knew who would make council; well, I should say, I was not concerned who might or might not fill the six council seats, with four solid incumbents rerunning.
Then I watched the “live” results on Saturday night and liked CTV coverage better than Global. Whenever I see Keith Baldrey on TV or more so on the streets of Victoria; I feel sorry for him. He is past his best before date and appears to be unable to retire.
I kept an eye on several BC communities, where I know folks, and had a sense of their local issues. No big surprises there and was happy with the Richmond and Delta results.
The real entertainment came from Surrey, where I just shake my head at what a different world that place is, and Vancouver, where Sim fulfilled my 2022 prophecy that he would be a one hit wonder. Harvey fawned over him and I just got chills; he and all but one of his team were shown the door with little doubt.
I think I have a pretty good sense of feelings on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island. I also think Eby is getting the same vibes from the historical NDP bailiwicks. He’s in troubled coastal waters.
Except for the hordes of Alberta transplants these coasties aren’t comfortable with the unknown bunch of ragtag conservatives so will most likely park their votes with the Greens and that is why Eby made his cap in hand plea to his heretofore loyal serfs; “please don’t vote Green.” People don’t like that.
There is no fear of the Greens coming close to governing or even opposition, but they are a safe depository for this cycle’s NDP voters and Vancouver added some reassurance that a Green vote isn’t something to be embarrassed about.
(Response: No doubt Ken Sim was a disappointment (he started losing me as soon as he refused to open Beach Avenue to vehicles again from Stanley Park, after ABC promised to do so).However, I still believe it would have been even worse for Vancouver had Stewart and the COPE/Greens had another four years … and the horrible truth of that is watch how difficult/costly/miserable Fry/COPE/Greens will make Vancouver as a place to live or visit over the next four years.
Provincially, I have been very open and clear: I believe a change of government is needed, and the only ones who can do that are the BC Conservatives. Another NDP/Green administration would be terrible for the economy, scare away investment, encourage homeless and druggies from all over the nation to make their way to BC for very generous, social assistance programs, give away too much to the First Nations… and only make BCs crippling deficit and debt even worse.
The only good result of both the municipal and the provincial elections is there will have lots to blog about/discuss for four years more! Ho)
A lil observation from the Hinterlands…..
Voted twice yesterday, marked one ballot with an X, the other with a filled in O, X’s & Oh’s.
25 people at regional district polling place, 250 at Provincial advance poll (thanks Eby for setting up the ability to vote in both elections on the same day), far more disconcerting was the fact 800 + people were at the gun show a mere kilometre from the 2 polling locations!
Regional district results were very polarizing, incumbent who was density increase & tourism focused got trounced! Victoria’s population increase dictation is a complete failure for civic leaders in the sticks! Year round residents ( not vacationers nor new arrivals) are sick of being dictated to by Victoria & the tourism business crowd, this resulted in 80% of votes against the density/developer incumbent.
Guns got over 200% more attention than Provincial advance poll (which broke records in my region) and regional district election was a mere distraction. Mr.Eby should dust off his resume, huge advance poll numbers usually mean a serious dump the incumbent movement!
Vancouver & Surrey, flip flopping down the overbuilt drains …… Mumbles McCullum 5.0 & Fried Pete, Wow.
Personal note as a past Richmondite, nice to see Kash & Alexa both out of council!
Provincial Promisefest & Bovine effluent extravaganza is 6 days from being over, calling an election with a majority only 1/2 way through a mandate, Eby had much to lose, apparently not much chance of gaining, the political careers of his advisors should be over…….
(Response: The Municipal election results don’t, at first glance, look good for Eby/NDP: voters seem to want change. BUT provincially, there are many ridings that are just solidly and historically NDP or Liberal/Conservative …so the entire election could come down to a few swing ridings. Are they too mad as hell or will they decided better the devil they already know? Should be quite exciting. Ho)
Great reporting on Eby taking credit for lower rents etc. Best part is about people leaving the province lowering demand. So is that the Eby policy that he wants to keep working?
“Waters says B.C.’S poor economy and weak job offerings have pushed 57,000 young would-be renters to leave the province in the past two years. ”
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-reality-check-david-eby-housing-plan
(Response: No wonder he’s promising a lot but not talking too much of “accomplishments” over the past four years. Ho)
I voted last night (this being Sunday Morning) and to my surprise, the people I voted for won! Shock and disbelief.
so why did i vote for this lot? it came with a knock on the door with a lady was shilling for now, is the new mayor.
She asked if i followed politics and all i said was “well, you come to the wrong house for that one:” but I digress.
I told her my dislike for the new gold plated community swimming pool, the destruction of Ladner by a massive building so out of place and muni favouring certain sports groups for monopolizing community parks.
Basically it was a mayor and Council deaf to the public’s concerns and rising taxes.
Her answer floored me; “you are not alone as the majority of people I talked to, expressed the same opinion.
I made a point to vote for this group in hopes that someone in the politcal spectrum would actually listen to the public.
A memo to Doerkson and the Conservatives: you had to bring up the Massey tunnel bridge debate, you lost now my vote because I know that you haven ‘t researched the subject. You just cannot parachute a bridge plan on a plan that already has been readied for the tunnel. As well the $3.5 billion bandied about by the current MLA, was an estimate and not the actual cost.
The full cost for the bridge according to a news item on CKNW Radio in 2017 was $8 billion.
“A leaked document released by the BC NDP says the George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge will cost a lot more to finance the project than the promised $3.5-billion.
The document shows total interest costs from 2017 to 2068 are forecasted to be $8-billion.”
Adjusted for inflation and taking in account the cement is rising 2 to 3 times that of the rate of inflation, the full cost of the bridge will be in excess of $12 billion over 50 years.
Forget about the botts championing the bridge on Facebook, and start looking at funding, something the local MLA and his family feud do not want to talk about.
It is funding and the provincial debt that will defeat the NDP, unless you will just add to it.
(Response: When there is such a widespread rejection of those in power right around the province, something is up! It is clear that the majority of working voters are tired of paying more and more and more, and seeing themselves enjoying very few or none of the benefits of their higher taxes…. so much of it going to “others”. I believe that does not bode well for the NDP next Saturday … IF the “silent majority” get out and vote… overcoming the NDP’s traditional loyal base that runs about 40%. Ho)