Adam Pankratz: A warning from B.C. — don't pull an Eby - National Post

BC NDP leader David Eby gives his concession speech and announces his resignation as leader after conceding defeat to the B.C. Conservative Party, in Vancouver on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. Photo by Jason Payne/PNG/PostmediaArticle contentA new phrase entered the political lexicon of British Columbia Saturday night: “to Eby.” Sadly for its namesake — outgoing premier David Eby — it is not an auspicious word. It means massive self-inflicted failure due to a colossal and hubristic miscalculation. Indeed, the scale and magnitude of Eby’s misreading of the B.C. electorate in calling his early snap election cannot be understated and it may well be the greatest political blunder in Canadian history. The resultant electoral rout will be studied and referenced for decades as a stunning backfire and cautionary tale of what can happen when a politician loses sight of the people and makes decisions for their own political benefit.  

Broad and rich though the English language may be, few words adequately convey how bad this loss was for David Eby and the NDP. The B.C. Conservatives won 64 seats. The NDP limped in with 27 seats and the Greens took two. That’s a blowout. That’s a walloping. That’s a repudiation. That’s the voters of British Columbia roundly and unequivocally saying to David Eby and the NDP: “Get out.” It is a summary political execution and Eby tendered his resignation as premier and NDP leader his brief concession speech.

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After acknowledging that several NDP MLAs lost their seats, he said, “I accept full responsibility for that outcome.” He will likely get no argument from anyone on that point.

It now truly beggars belief to remember that Eby was already elected with a majority government when he called this election two years early and cynically tried to take advantage of turmoil within the Conservative party, which was roiling under the catastrophic former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay. At dissolution, Eby’s NDP held a three-seat majority, with a by-election to be held in the safest NDP riding in the province. His majority was small, but manageable, and not at all the one-seat tightwire he tried to convince voters of the latter part of the campaign. That is to say, he could have done as he pleased for two more years before facing the voters. He chose to go early and has paid dearly.  

In to the public consciousness now steps Lorne Doerkson as B.C.’s Premier-elect, swept to power with a majority government fuelled by a voter base fed up with Eby’s relentless ideological decision making at the expense of governing for all British Columbians. During the campaign, Doerksen’s calm and understated presence contrasted sharply with Eby’s incoherent and confused message and who ultimately never gave British Columbians a reason to re-elect him.