David Eby, who leads the New Democratic Party, is going to the polls on Oct. 24, arguing he needs a renewed mandate while opponents are splintered. He framed the stakes around the US-Canada trade conflict, saying, "For British Columbians and for Canadians, this is an existential moment." Eby accused US President Donald Trump of attacking Canadian workers and firms and said, "That is exactly why we need to act." His pitch: "To protect British Columbians from the shocks coming from the United States." A former activist civil rights lawyer, Eby has been among Canada's most vocal politicians taking on Trump.
Eby replaced John Horgan in 2022. In 2017 John Horgan brought the NDP into government, a feat the party repeated in 2020. In the October 2024 election under Eby, the NDP secured 47 of 93 seats, clinching the deciding seat by a 22 vote recount. That razor thin cushion meant even a single absence could derail legislation.
That same race vaulted the once marginal right-wing Conservative Party of BC into the official opposition with 44 seats, overtaking the center right BC United, a party that previously governed when it was known as the BC Liberal Party. Since then, the Conservatives have been racked by turmoil. Over the past few months, multiple legislators walked away, saying they lacked confidence in leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who stepped down on Sunday after holding the post for less than four months. As election talk heated up, some returned to the fold while others moved to a new group, CentreBC.
Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson, at a downtown Vancouver press conference with candidates and former leadership contenders, warned, "I think David Eby is going to regret this." He rejected suggestions his party aligns with Trump, calling him "an absolute bully," and argued "the NDP has spent 10 years dismantling industry in this province and made it so much more able to be attacked."
BC's 5.7 million residents will be weighing policy through a trade lens. The US fight has hammered sectors differently across Canada. In BC, forestry is the most exposed industry.
The province's forestry industry ranks as Canada's biggest, and it is under pressure from escalating US import levies, including new 50% duties imposed in August that affect additional wood products. Aluminum fabricators are feeling the pressure, and booze exporters face a US ban. BC was among provinces that pulled American alcohol from store shelves, and while urging Canadians to skip trips south, Eby scrapped a 2025 family vacation to one of Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks in the US.
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His stance on energy has also shifted. Prior to assuming office in 2022, he cautioned against building additional fossil-fuel infrastructure. Now, seeking growth and jobs to fund bigger health care and social programs, he backs shipping more natural gas to Asia. He has also not opposed Alberta's plan for a new crude pipeline to BC's south, after previously fighting a similar project and losing in court.
Earlier this year, Eby could not unify his party on how to change consultation rules with Indigenous peoples, a major uncertainty for land and resource projects across a part of Canada that includes more than 200 First Nations. Unlike much of the country, many Indigenous groups in BC do not have treaties, leaving key relationships unsettled.
BC is also one of the costliest places in Canada for housing, food and gasoline. The real-estate-heavy economy has slowed as costs and interest rates have risen since the pandemic, a deceleration compounded by recent large cuts to immigration. Meanwhile, provincial deficits and debt have swelled, prompting a series of bond rating downgrades.
Local mayors asked Eby not to go early because municipal elections happen a week before the provincial vote, creating overlapping campaigns. He is moving roughly two years before his current term from the 2024 election would have ended. Polls in September showed the Conservatives slipping and the NDP ahead by varying margins, with Ipsos putting the lead at 10 percentage points and Angus Reid at four.
For your money, watch how trade policy, resource shipments to Asia and sector specific strains in forestry, aluminum and alcohol shape the platforms. Those choices will set the tone for BC's growth, jobs and day to day costs after Oct. 24.
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