Premier David Eby asked British Columbia’s lieutenant-governor to dissolve the legislature Tuesday, triggering a snap provincial election for Oct. 24, less than two years after the last vote and nearly two years ahead of the fixed date set out in provincial law.
Eby made the announcement at a midday news conference, framing the vote as a response to what he called an “existential moment” for the province, according to Global News and CBC News. He pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against Canada, along with the cost of living, health care and housing, as the central issues of the campaign. Eby’s message centred on three themes, standing up to the United States, protecting public services and building housing and infrastructure, Global News reported. He said housing prices in B.C. have fallen for 26 consecutive months and that the province continues to add jobs, Daily Hive reported.
“Join me in standing up for B.C. Join me in standing up for Canada,” Eby said, according to Daily Hive’s report on the announcement. The premier had told his caucus in recent weeks to stay “election ready,” Castanet reported, fuelling speculation in Victoria that a snap vote was coming.
The election call comes less than two years after British Columbians last voted, in October 2024, when the NDP won a razor thin majority of 47 seats following judicial recounts in several ridings. That cushion narrowed to a single seat last month after NDP MLA Joan Phillip, a longtime Indigenous leader who represented Vancouver-Strathcona, died Aug. 28 at age 74, CBC News reported. A byelection to fill her seat had not yet been called. British Columbia’s fixed election date law would normally have set the next vote for October 2028, but the legislation does not stop a premier from calling an early election.
The Oct. 24 vote will land one week after municipal elections scheduled for Oct. 17, meaning B.C. voters will go to the polls twice in the same month, an overlap that local government leaders had asked Eby to avoid, according to the Globe and Mail.
The BC Conservatives, the official Opposition, are without a permanent leader heading into the campaign. Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned as party leader this week after weeks of internal turmoil, according to CBC News, the Globe and Mail and CTV News. Interim leader Lorne Doerkson criticized the snap call as opportunistic and pointed to a $13.8-billion provincial deficit, an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent and 21 lumber mill closures since 2023, the Globe and Mail reported. Doerkson also objected to the roughly $83 million to $84 million cost of running the election, arguing the NDP already holds a functioning majority government.
The BC Green Party had not issued a formal response to the election call as of Tuesday afternoon.
Campaigning is expected to begin immediately, with the NDP, Conservatives and Greens selecting candidates across the province’s ridings ahead of the Oct. 24 vote. Elections BC is responsible for administering the vote and will set out nomination deadlines and campaign spending rules in the coming days.
