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#BCPoli | A Re-Elected David Eby and a BC NDP Majority Government

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The Angus Reid Institute surveyed 2863 citizens in every riding across the province — online, on the phone and in focus groups — a statistically valid sampling of a representative group of voters in each riding / region of the province, and predicts a majority NDP government will be elected on October 19.

Come 9pm this upcoming Saturday night — October 19th, 2024 — incorporating an up-to-date riding by riding analysis, and a representative cross-sampling of the twenty most reliable polling companies which have weighed in and reported out on the 2024 British Columbia election, VanRamblings has come to believe the good citizens of British Columbia will elect David Eby to a full term of office, as our province’s duly-elected Premier-designate, as the British Columbia New Democratic Party is set to enjoy majority government through the autumn of 2028, with a good prospect of being re-elected to office again that year.


The Honourable Thomas R. Berger, leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party in 1969.

For a good long while, VanRamblings believed that the BC NDP’s 2024 campaign for office bore a distinct relation to Tom Berger’s failed and far too “intellectual”, professorial and “coldly calculating” NDP campaign for office, in 1969.

VanRamblings no longer believes that to be the case.

Over the course of the past 10 days — in the post-debate period — the conditions of the 2024 BC NDP campaign have been radically reset, as a warmer David Eby has emerged on the campaign trail, no longer providing deadly boring lectur-y and utterly enervating policy pronouncements devoid of humanity.

Instead what British Columbians have seen in televised press conferences held in, for example, Courtenay-Comox, Campbell River and Surrey, is a David Eby who radiates warmth, the David Eby many of us know so well — the David Eby who consistently polled at a 53% approval rating for the past two years, as Canada’s most popular Premier — once again emerging on B.C.’s political stage, humble and comfortable in his skin — not to mention, affable and engaging — while providing the information British Columbians need to know before they cast their ballot.

VanRamblings advised B.C. NDP leader David Eby to be more aggressive on the campaign trail. David Eby, wisely, ignored VanRamblings’ advice, instead saying to himself, “Well, if I’m going to lose this campaign, I’m going to lose it being me, not as some automaton the campaign created.” David Eby has, as we expected would be the case, taken charge of his campaign for re-election over the course of the past ten days, his waggish sense of humour and his love of the province and all of its citizens front and centre in a rejuvenated and re-energized B.C. NDP campaign.


BC NDP leader Glen Clark emerges victorious and Premier-designate in 1996’s British Columbia election

Then we got to thinking, “If the correlation between the failed 1969 BC NDP campaign and the 2024 BC NDP campaign for office doesn’t hold water, what about the 1996 election, when Glen Clark became Premier, in spite of the fact that Gordon Campbell’s insurgent B.C. Liberal party garnered 43% of the popular vote to Mr. Clark’s 39% of the vote, yet due to ‘voter efficiency,’  the British Columbia New Democratic Party would form and hold government from 1996 through 2001?”

The BC NDP in 2024 have consistently polled five points ahead of the BC Conservatives. What if a situation occurred in 2024 that, although the BC NDP is polling ahead of the BC Conservatives, on a riding-by-riding basis and in the targeted riding campaign BC Conservative co-campaign manager, Dimitri  Pantazopoulos has run, BC Conservatives pull ahead on the seat count on election night to form government, despite winning fewer votes than their BC NDP rival?

Nah, we concluded. Too many differences between the 1996 and 2024 campaigns.

The upstart BC Conservatives are running a seat-of-their-pants election, devoid of a GOTV (Get Out the Vote) electoral machine necessary to win government, with much less money, many more untried candidates, and in a campaign that is rife with … see below as to what we believe to be a more relevant campaign correlation that may well inform the outcome of the 2024 British Columbia election.

On March 26th of this year, VanRamblings published a prescient column titled, Bozo Eruptions Disrupt Election Campaign, where we tracked then Alberta Wildrose party leader Danielle Smith’s failed bid for office.

See if you don’t think that there’s a correlation between Danielle Smith’s failed 2012 campaign for office, and the BC Conservative’s calamitous 2024 campaign.

As Stuart Thompson wrote, at the time, in The National Post …

It is a surefire rule of politics that at any given moment, somewhere in Canada a bozo is about to erupt.

Just as a political campaign is looking to flip the script, or turn the corner, or recapture the narrative, some bozo will ruin it for them, prompting damage control, tearful apologies, or, in the most severe cases, a resignation.

The bozos simply can’t stop themselves from erupting.

Conservative strategist Tom Flanagan, who ran Smith’s 2012 campaign, oversaw one of the most memorable stretches of bozo eruptions in Canadian political history: Smith wanted a big tent party, and open and unvetted candidate nominations.

Two days after the 2012 election was called, a Wildrose candidate’s year-old blog post was unearthed declaring that all gays were destined for a “lake of fire”. Smith refused to rebuke her candidate, saying the party “accepts a wide range of views.” And the hits just kept on comin’ for the Wildrose campaign, as day after day after day, a new candidate bozo eruption garnered front page coverage, and the lead story status on the evening news.

Danielle Smith’s dreams of becoming the Wildrose Premier were dashed, the party 20 points behind their polling on Election Day.

Danielle Smith’s failure to rebuke a candidate. Kind of sounds like BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad, who has consistently refused to censure any racist, intolerant, misogynist and homophobic utterance by any of his candidates.

What does the above have to do with British Columbia’s October 19th election?

Everything.

From the day after the Leaders’ Debate through until today, the BC Conservative campaign has been dogged by the shocking controversy surrounding their Surrey South candidate, Brent Chapman, such that the entire focus of leader John Rustad’s campaign for office has not been on the issues he’s raised at the daily press conferences he has held over the past week. Talk about being off message.


Brent Chapman, the B.C. Conservative Party’s Surrey South candidate, has said that what happened at residential schools is a “massive fraud”, called for a “boycott” of Air Canada to stop airlifts of Syrian refugees, questioned high profile mass shootings such as Sandy Hook elementary school where 20 children were murdered, while denying the white nationalist terrorist attack on a Québec City mosque.

Think of Rustad’s BC Ferries press conference, which got buried in an avalanche of questions put to the leader about whether Brent Chapman would be allowed to continue as a candidate for the BC Conservative Party in the riding of Surrey South.

The entire focus of reporter questions related to the ongoing, disastrous Brent Chapman fiasco, with no questions whatsoever on the BC Conservative plan for BC Ferries, or on subsequent days on the BC Conservative issue of the day, as the BC Conservative campaign was consistently held off message.

Can you say, devastating, calamitous, detrimental, hapless and noxious?

Chapman also shared a graphic posted by a far-right meme account.

The graphic features images of two handguns and the silhouettes of two heads.

“To those liberals who said they would kill themselves if Trump were elected,” the graphic states. “Don’t fuck this up too.”

The graphic suggests “liberals” should aim the gun at the centre of their brain rather than at their chin, an apparent reference to how best to commit suicide.

The most damning Chapman post — and destructive to the BC Conservative campaign — occurred surrounding the resurfacing of past statements demonizing Muslims and Palestinians, accusing them of “inbreeding.”

Why destructive to the BC Conservative campaign? Well, just see above.

Also, because 43% of the voters in the Surrey-Cloverdale riding where former BC United MLA, Elenore Sturko, who joined the BC Conservatives in June — who, only two weeks ago was polling at 56% in the riding, as Brent Chapman’s extremist anti-Muslim rants came to light has seen her potential to win the riding evaporate, as NDP incumbent Mike Starchuk, with the full support of the 43% Muslim electorate, is now set to win the riding Saturday night, and re-election to the BC Legislature.


Keith Baldrey, veteran Global BC Legislative reporter

On Mike Smyth’s CKNW talk show, Global BC reporter Keith Baldrey stated that Elenore Sturko was fully aware of Brent Chapman’s extreme views before she decided to run alongside him, as Ms. Sturko described Chapman as “an extremist” and a “QAnon conspiracy theorist” shortly before she defected.

“A week before Sturko made her jump, her announcement that she’s going to join the BC Conservatives, I ran into her in the Legislature library. And in my Facebook feed was suddenly a video from Brent Chapman and it was sort of about his candidacy. And I didn’t know him, I didn’t know he was married to (federal Conservative MP) Kerry-Lynne Findlay … I said to Sturko, “Oh, so you’re running against an actor?” And she says, “Oh, this guy, he’s a…” and she called him “an extremist,” said he was a ‘QAnon conspiracy theorist, that he’s crazy, you know.’ And at that point, she was still a member of BC United.” (CKNW, Oct 10)

All of the unsettling and disturbing news that has emanated from the BC Conservative campaign, following a dreadful — what CHEK-TV reporter Rob Shaw called a cadaver-like — Leaders’ Debate performance by John Rustad, giving the “win” to David Eby at 48%, with only 32% support for John Rustad, has caused the BC Conservative campaign not only to stall, as the party continues to lose momentum and more and more voter support with each passing day, but to recede, or perhaps even collapse, making a BC Conservative win on Saturday, at best unlikely.

As occurred in 2012 during that year’s Alberta election, come Election Day when Danielle Smith’s Wildrose Party lost 16 percentage points in support due to the day after day, drip by drip revelations of racism, intolerance and the hate espoused by many of her candidates, VanRamblings believes, come Saturday, when the vast majority of British Columbians will cast their ballot at the polls, British Columbians of conscience will make the decision to cast their ballot for the principled candidate for Premier, David Eby, and a British Columbia New Democratic Party where you have heard nary a whisper of intolerance, because as British Columbians we realize when we enter our local polling station, the only reasonable political party to vote for to form government will be the British Columbia New Democratic Party.

You’ll want to watch / listen to what former BC NDP Premier Glen Clark has to say about the 2024 British Columbia provincial election. If you don’t see the Hotel Pacifico podcast YouTube video above, you can listen to it here or here or here.

#BCPoli | VanRamblings Endorses David Eby and a Majority NDP Government

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David Eby and his family, baby Gwen, son Ezra, 10, daughter Iva, 5, and David’s wife, Dr. Cailey Lynch

David Eby stands out as a visionary, a once in a generation political leader who is committed to justice, equity, and the well-being of all British Columbians.

As the Premier of British Columbia, David Eby has demonstrated his exceptional skills as a politician, and his unwavering dedication to meaningful social change.

David Eby’s leadership embodies a rare combination of compassion, authenticity, a deep understanding of how government functions and how best to bring about change for the better that serves the interests of all B.C. citizens — young people just starting their lives, vulnerable populations in every community, middle class and those working to join the middle class working people setting a path to establish themselves in the economy, those British Columbians who have already established themselves as the core element of British Columbia’s population that are thriving in our robust economy, members of our mature population and senior citizens in retirement or just about to embark on retirement — and all ethnic and cultural groups who comprise the mosaic of British Columbia’s diverse population.

David Eby’s bold policy vision seeks to address the province’s most pressing issues — health care, the provision of housing to serve the interests of all British Columbians no matter their economic circumstance, crime and public safety — with a well-thought-out action plan to ensure his government’s success.

  • Health care. David Eby has successfully worked with a sometimes intransigent and hide bound federal government to streamline the process to allow doctors and nurses to enter Canada, become accredited and begin their practice in British Columbia. In 2023, David Eby’s government hired 700 new doctors and 1500 new nurses, and will do so again this year and next year — for a total of 2100 new doctors and 4500 new nurses arriving from abroad over a three year period into British Columbia, unprecedented any where else in Canada, many of Canada’s new physicians and nurses arriving from Great Britain, these health care professionals leaving a British health care system in crisis after 15 years of Conservative government. In addition, British Columbia graduates 1500 new registered nurses and 300 new doctors from British Columbia post secondary institutions each year, a figure set to expand;

  • Housing for all. 100,000 new housing co-operative units to be built across the province over the next 10 years, on Crown land, on a 99-year leasehold basis, collective home ownership for 250,000 British Columbians; 25,000 units of supportive housing to be constructed and open by 2030 to house British Columbia’s unhoused and most vulnerable citizens, too many of them currently living in rundown, rat-infested SROs; 25,000 new homes for those getting into the market, 40% of the cost of the new homes borne by government on a 25-year cost recovery basis; the B.C. Builds programme, which will see the construction of 100,000 units of market housing, many of those transit-oriented new homes in Metro Vancouver built around Skytrain stations; and 50,000 units of housing as homes for our burgeoning seniors population;
  • British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma and Premier David Eby have over the past two years embarked on a mission to ensure the revolving door system of justice — or injustice, as most British Columbians see it — comes to an end, so that prolific offenders are jailed and off the streets for an indefinite period of time. In addition, Premier David Eby has committed to a system of involuntary care for those addicted, mentally unwell members of our community involved in crime, assault and mayhem as a lifestyle choice, who pose a danger to themselves and others, who will receive  treatment to allow them to become functioning members of our community.

The entire British Columbia New Democratic Party platform may be found by clicking or tapping on this link, and includes information on the B.C. NDP’s proposed transportation policy — which involves full government funding of public transportation, as a priority — expanding school meal programmes; strengthening consumer protection laws; cracking down on housing speculators and flippers; protecting you from the return of MSP premiums and bridge tolls; keeping rent caps in place for B.C.’s residents living in one of British Columbia’s 600,000 rental units; training more doctors;  making B.C. a clean-energy superpower; reducing carbon pollution; moving B.C. closer to our goal of protecting 30% of provincial lands by 2030;  and working with Indigenous peoples to strengthen communities, by taking action on Indigenous housing, education and supports for families and people.

The Future: A Choice for Progress or Regression

As British Columbia heads towards Election Day 2024 — this upcoming Saturday, October 19th — the stakes are high.

David Eby’s B.C. NDP is the only British Columbia political party offering a comprehensive, inclusive vision for our province’s future.

In contrast, the far-right BC Conservative Party, known for its climate change denial and socially regressive policies, not to mention racism and intolerance, threatens to undo much of the progress made under David Eby’s leadership — for instance, the 250,000 British Columbians who might look forward to a residence within one of the 100,000 units of co-op housing David Eby’s government will build, can forget about that as a future prospect, given John Rustad’s regressive Conservatives have no plan to provide any such housing, which they consider to be a radical communist conspiracy, one of the many conspiracies which inform their raison d’être.

The B.C. Conservative Party’s rejection of diversity, inclusivity, and climate science stands in stark contrast to David Eby and the B.C. New Democrats’ commitment to addressing real-world problems with innovative and compassionate solutions.


The October 13th Angus Reid poll of 2863 eligible B.C. voters. Want to make it happen? Vote NDP!

For British Columbians, the choice is clear: a vote for David Eby and the British Columbia New Democratic Party is a vote for progress, stability, and the continuation of policies that uplift all citizens, particularly the vulnerable and marginalized.

David Eby’s leadership represents a rare opportunity for the citizens of British Columbia — a chance to build a fairer, more equitable society while tackling the housing, health care, and climate challenges that will define our province’s future.

#BCPoli | B.C. NDP Advertising Fails, and Necessary Remedies

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B.C. NDP ads that have not resonated with a public anxious for change — whatever change might mean.

The 2024 provincial election in British Columbia is proving to be a pivotal moment for the British Columbia New Democratic Party (B.C. NDP), as they seek to retain power under the goal-directed, activist leadership of Premier David Eby.

However, their campaign ads have faced criticism for failing to connect with the electorate, especially at a time when voters are deeply concerned about housing, inflation, and health care. As British Columbians head to the polls, with advance voting already underway, the B.C. NDP needs to urgently revamp their messaging to effectively counter the rising threat posed by the possible, and increasingly likely, election of a  B.C. Conservative Party majority government on October 19.


To access the “John Rustad is a career politician” British Columbia New Democratic Party ad click here.

One of the B.C. NDP ads that has been running almost continually since long before the actual campaign got underway on September 21st, is the “John Rustad is a career politician, with a history of costing you more,” an ad that has driven CHEK-TV / Business in Vancouver Legislative reporter Rob Shaw around the bend.

Rob Shaw is anxious to point out that Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General before dissolution of the Legislature, has served in the Legislature dating back to 1997, when then B.C. NDP Premier Glen Clark appointed Mr. Farnworth Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing — a full eight years before Mr. Rustad entered the Legislature, as the MLA for Prince George–Omineca.

Where does the B.C. NDP get off, then, calling John Rustad a “career politician”?

One of the main critiques of the B.C. NDP’s 2024 campaign ads is that they have failed to boldly and effectively address the key concerns of voters across British Columbia, particularly around housing affordability and rent control.

Let’s take a look at the “rent cap” legislation brought in by populist, working class B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan in 2019, in response to a B.C. Rental Housing Task Force report, written by and presented to the Premier by B.C. NDP Member of the Legislature representing Vancouver-West End, Spencer Chandra Herbert.

Prior to January 2019, the rent increase formula was inflation plus two per cent.

Premier John Horgan told a full session of the Legislature in the spring of 2019 that rent increases of inflation plus two per cent was “simply not sustainable for renters, many of whom are on fixed incomes, to see their rent increase by more than inflation each and every year.” Premier Horgan then brought in legislation that capped rents at the rate of inflation that was passed by the House.

By far the number one concern that has been expressed to VanRamblings, in the lines we’ve waited in at this year’s 43rd edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival, on the street when we’ve run into friends, or in coffee shops around town is the proposal of B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad to remove rent caps that he considers to be a burden to landlords.

One longtime friend and professional associate told VanRamblings the following:

“For the past 25 years, I have lived in an apartment in Burnaby, where the rent has gone up most years. Even so, thanks to the NDP’s rent cap legislation — given how out of control the rental market has become in recent years — my rent is still an affordable $850 per month, given my long tenure. The resident who recently moved into the apartment next door to me pays the market rent for his apartment of $1575 a month. Should John Rustad revoke the NDP’s rent cap legislation, I expect that my rent will go up 10% a year until I am paying more than double what I’m paying now, as the landlord increases my rent to the market rate. I don’t know what I’d do in such a circumstance. I’d be in dire, unconscionable straits, and would have to consider moving out of town.”

The story above is writ large across the entire province of British Columbia, as 600,000 renters would find themselves in the same dire circumstance as my friend.

The response of the B.C. NDP “not on your side government” to the egregious circumstance that will befall renters should a John Rustad-led Conservative Party be elected to government:  a namby-pamby ad that glosses over the rent cap removal topic, underplaying its impact — if it addresses the consequences of the rent cap removal (which it utterly fails to do) at all — should John Rustad’s commitment to the landlord class — over renters — come to pass post the October 19th election.

That’s our David Eby for ya.

Playing it right down the middle, doesn’t want to appear too radical, doesn’t want to upset landlords — heaven forbid! — while he leaves hundreds of thousands of renters to hang out to dry. Mr. Eby: you are going to have to decide whose side you’re on: the landlord class, or all those British Columbians who pay rent.

What’s it gonna be, sir?

The B.C. New Democrats, with a little more than two weeks to go before Election Day, are going to have to decide whose side they’re on, in a way their lacklustre campaign has utterly failed to do as the 2024 provincial election has unfolded.

Enough with those ineffectual ads the B.C. NDP have run the first two weeks of the campaign, ads that woefully ill serve the interests of potential B.C. NDP voters.

What the B.C. NDP must do: run saturation ads featuring British Columbians from across the province, addressing in stark terms the impact that removal of the rent cap will have on their family: British Columbians in every region of the province, British Columbians in every age and cultural demographic, real “live” human beings — you know, the British Columbians the B.C. NDP campaign has steadfastly ignored to date. Stop with this arrogant, condescending top-down nonsense.

Does the B.C. NDP brain trust not see how wildly effective the ads are that are being run by the Democratic Party in Washington state, just below our border, ads that really resonate, ads that always, always, always feature Washingtonians warning their fellow citizens about the perils that would occur should Republicans be elected to lead state government? Why are we not seeing those kinds of ads here?

Let’s hear from real British Columbians — not an anonymous voice over in an ad.

All ads to be run by the B.C. New Democrats in the final two weeks of the campaign must feature British Columbians warning their fellow citizens on what a John Rustad government would mean to the quality of their lives, and their children’s lives, covering a range of topics: climate change — which Mr. Rustad effectively denies, John Rustad’s plans to ban books in public schools to stop what he considers to be “indoctrination” by teachers, the revocation of the SOGI 123 legislation that protects vulnerable tweens and teens enrolled in our public education system, a John Rustad-led government that would not build affordable housing co-ops on Crown land as proposed by David Eby’s NDP government, and so very much more.

Make no mistake: vulnerable British Columbians are going to die, who otherwise might live, should John Rustad be elected to government come October 19th.

That is a message that will resonate with voters, if told properly and bluntly.

#BCPoli | Where the B.C. New Democratic Party Campaign Has Failed, Pt. 1

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As of this writing, David Eby’s British Columbia New Democratic Party and John Rustad’s Conservative Party of B.C. are, according to the latest polling, in a statistical dead heat in their respective bids to form the next government in our province.

The 2024 British Columbia New Democratic Party (B.C. NDP) campaign has faced criticism for its perceived ineffectiveness and inability to connect with the broader concerns of British Columbians, in a campaign that has clearly not resonated with a broad swath of voters, leaving the B.C. NDP campaign in the doldrums.

Despite Premier David Eby’s personal appeal — which he emphasizes in campaign materials, with images of his family and messages of hope for future generations — the B.C. NDP campaign has failed to effectively counter the momentum that has been building for weeks for John Rustad’s upstart, unschooled B.C. Conservatives, failing to effectively respond to critical issues like the rate-of-inflation cap on rents, which Rustad has said a  B.C. Conservative government would repeal and revoke.

Today on VanRamblings, we will seek to address one of the primary weaknesses of the B.C. New Democrat’s current campaign for office.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the B.C. NDP’s poorly designed and executed advertising strategy, and the B.C. NDP’s broader inability to engage with British Columbians.

On Friday, we’ll offer some prescriptive fixes for the B.C. NDP’s failing campaign.


David Eby’s 2017 campaign office opening, attended by more than 400 constituents and supporters

Campaign offices located in a neighbourhood within the Riding

There was a time when the New Democratic Party was a grassroots party.

No longer, it seems.

In 2024, as a “cost saving measure” the B.C. New Democrats have chosen not to open easily accessible neighbourhood riding offices available to the public. Instead, the NDP campaign team made the wrong-headed decision to create campaign offices that would accommodate candidates running in six different ridings.


David Eby in attendance at his tiny “campaign office” — which he shares with 5 other NDP candidates

In 2024, David Eby shares a tiny, largely inaccessible and out of the way campaign office, a campaign office outside of the ridings of Vancouver-Yaletown NDP candidate Terry Yung, Vancouver-South Granville NDP MLA Brenda Bailey, Vancouver Quilchena NDP candidate Callista Ryan, Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP candidate Christine Boyle, and Vancouver-West End MLA, Spencer Chandra Herbert.

Seems the B.C. New Democrat brain trust arrived at the conclusion prior to the outset of the 2024 B.C. NDP campaign that John Horgan’s 2020 B.C. NDP online campaign proved to be such a wild success — with the B.C. NDP electing 57 MLAs — clearly, an online campaign out of necessity, arising from the fact that in 2020 the world was in the throes of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the prevailing wisdom:

“Hey, it worked once, and worked very well. Let’s try it again in 2024, and save ourselves some big bucks in the process, money we can pour into media buys.”

What tragic, non-thinking, utterly wrongheaded campaign destroying nonsense.

In case you were wondering senior B.C. NDP campaign folks, in 2024 we are no longer in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

Sure, COVID is still around, but for the most part, folks have stopped wearing masks, and getting together in enclosed spaces has once again become de rigeur.

Stalwart members of the New Democratic Party would relish the opportunity to get together with the friends they’ve made in their riding over the years — camaraderie and human contact counts for something, y’know. But the brain trust running the 2024 NDP campaign, well … they’ve got better ideas, it would seem. Alas.

In each of the four David Eby campaigns VanRamblings has worked on, in 2011 and 2013 managed by the incredible and monumentally-skilled Kate Van Meer-Mass, and in 2017 by the equally wonderful Gala Milne (no 2020 campaign manager required, arising from the pandemic), here’s how things worked, effectively and well.

    • We’ll use 2017 as an example. Gala Milne, as we say above, very effectively managed David Eby’s 2017 campaign for office. Danika Skye Hammond co-ordinated and inspired the 400 outside volunteers — who were out door knocking from early morning til 8pm, as well as those delivering pamphlets and other campaign literature, and arranging daily, well-attended burmashaves — while Chris did the same for the 200 inside volunteers, operating the phone room 9am til 9pm daily, responsible for ensuring David Eby signs were delivered four times a day, while overseeing inside volunteers.
      In addition, there was a media team (social media, photo and videographers), a fundraising team, office staff, and a crew who kept the troops fed.

At David Eby’s campaign office opening in 2017, four hundred constituents and supporters attended at the campaign office, collectively with thousands of dollars in their pockets to donate to David’s campaign. The enthusiasm for David’s re-election was palpable — 400 people who would spend the next four weeks getting the vote out, and supporting David Eby’s re-election bid in any way the could.

in 2024, at David Eby’s out of the way campaign office opening, constituents were not invited to attend at the tiny space outside of the riding. Only the candidates, their spouses and their children, and campaign staff were allowed to attend.

What a godawful B.C. NDP campaign mistake, foregoing the invaluable and necessary opportunity to inspire constituents, and to raise thousands of dollars.

In 2011, 2013 and 2017, David Eby’s campaign office was a magnet for community participation in his election, and later for re-election.

You could feel the enthusiasm and good will from inside the campaign office wafting out into the street, and from there throughout the neighbourhood. Hundreds of people came by, dropped into the office, chatted, ate some of the food Susan Walsh prepared (Susan — whose husband Michael Walsh, the lead film critic at The Province for 40 years, passed on January 3rd this year — was told her services would not be required this year, a cruelty beyond all measure, in our estimation).

    • VanRamblings worked a 4-hour front desk shift midday Monday through Friday, and sometimes on the weekend, this in addition to attending burmashaves, going door knocking, delivering literature, and distributing David Eby campaign signs. David Eby’s campaign office was abuzz with activity at least 12 hours a day. Folks came in off the street to ask questions, to see if arrangements could be made to meet with David — such requests almost always accommodated.Constituents picked up their David Eby campaign sign, or two.
      And most wonderfully of all, people came in off the street — even people who didn’t live in the riding — to drop off $200 in cash, or $500 in bills, which they were only too glad to hand over in support of the re-election of “that wonderful young man, David Eby.” Of course, as we together filled out all of the proper forms — campaign staff would have been apoplectic if we didn’t follow Elections B.C. donation guidelines — we must have raised five to ten thousand dollars each week of the campaign, just from folks walking in off the street.

This was grassroots, community-involved election campaigning at its very finest.

But not in 2024. No siree. The B.C. NDP campaign team is saving money, don’tcha see, while destroying grassroots, riding by riding constituent enthusiasm for their candidates, where everything is done online.

We ordered two David Eby campaign signs 9 days ago. When they hadn’t arrived by last Thursday, we contacted the office (by e-mail, of course, because there’s no talking to real human beings in the 2024 B.C. NDP campaign), and here we are on Wednesday, October 2nd, and no David Eby signs for VanRamblings to put up.

Should the British Columbia New Democrats lose this election — which seems to be a real possibility — it will have occurred, at least in part, as a consequence of the arrogant and condescending decision by the senior B.C. NDP campaign team to “combine” campaign offices, rather than opening an accessible campaign office in each constituency, a maladroit decision of immense and regrettable proportion.

Politics is a people business. The B.C. New Democratic Party campaign for office in 2024 seems not to understand this fundamental principle of politics.