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#BCPoli | Prepare for a Change In Government

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On Tuesday, September 22, 2026, BC NDP Premier David Eby — contrary to the demand of his Cabinet, and members of his caucus — announced a snap election, after meeting with Lieutenant-Governor Wendy Cocchia at Government House in Victoria. That means, Election Day is this Saturday, October 24th, one week after  municipal elections across British Columbia this past Saturday, October 17th. The upcoming election this Saturday is our province’s 44th provincial general election since Confederation.

David Eby’s 2026 B.C. election campaign: 20 major promises

David Eby began his campaign for re-election as British Columbia Premier on September 22, 2026, with a central message: protect jobs, make life more affordable, strengthen public services and build a more self-reliant provincial economy amid the trade dispute with the United States.

Two early announcements were particularly significant. On September 18, before formally calling the election, Eby announced a pause in the planned expansion of the provincial sales tax (PST) to professional services and said future BC Ferries vessels would be built in British Columbia. The PST delay was estimated to save businesses, local governments and others approximately $260 million in 2026–27.

Here, then is a curated list of commitments, based on the BC NDP’s published campaign material and election coverage available as of October 21, 2026.

Taxes, affordability and the cost of living

  • 1. Pause the PST expansion. Delay the planned application of the provincial sales tax to professional services until well after the U.S. trade war ends. The initial pause was announced on September 18;
  • 2. Cut gasoline and diesel prices. Suspend 10 cents per litre of the provincial motor fuel tax, with the NDP projecting that its combined measures could reduce pump prices by as much as 30 cents per litre. Plus, cracking down on excessive fuel prices, by giving the BC Utilities Commission a stronger role in enforcing pricing rules and limiting excessive industry margins;
  • 3. Limit grocery markups on essential foods. Cap retail profit margins on products such as milk, eggs, cheese, butter and poultry. As well as combat algorithmic price discrimination. Strengthen consumer-protection and privacy laws to restrict AI-powered pricing practices that charge consumers different prices based on their personal data;
  • 4. Freeze ICBC insurance rates for another three years. Extend the existing rate freeze, bringing the proposed period of frozen rates to a decade;
  • 5. Ask higher-income earners to contribute more. Increase provincial income-tax rates for the top two tax brackets and establish a new bracket for annual income above $1 million. The NDP says the changes would affect fewer than 4% of income earners and raise approximately $1 billion annually.

Jobs, manufacturing and economic independence

  • 6. Build the next generation of BC Ferries in British Columbia. Require future vessels to be built in Canada, expand the provincial shipbuilding industry and develop a Made-in-B.C. shipbuilding strategy, as well as establish a new B.C. shipyward, working with the federal government, shipbuilders and organized labour to develop a new shipyard, with up to $250 million available provincially to leverage private and federal investment;
  • 7. Create dedicated support for forestry manufacturers. Help tariff-affected mills modernize, produce higher-value products, reduce costs and find customers outside the United States;
  • 8. Prioritize B.C. and Canadian-made products. Introduce purchasing rules for provincial ministries, Crown corporations and health authorities to favour locally and nationally produced goods and materials where viable;
  • 9. Double critical-mineral production and exports, while expanding the capacity of the Port of Prince Rupert, doubling B.C.’s critical-mineral production and exports within five years, strengthening trade links beyond the United States;
  • 10. Help small businesses survive tariffs and wildfires. Continue targeted assistance, including interest-free loans of up to $1 million for eligible businesses through the Small Business Tariff & Wildfire Relief Fund. While also helping small businesses hire young workers. Offer a $5,000 refundable tax credit to eligible small businesses hiring a young person aged 18–30 for their first full-time, 12-month job;
  • 11. Expand food processing in B.C. Make use of eligible Agricultural Land Reserve properties poorly suited to primary food production, while protecting prime farmland and creating local processing jobs.

Health care and seniors

  • 12. Triple recruitment of health-care workers from the United States. Expand efforts to attract American doctors, nurses and other health professionals to work in B.C.;
  • 13. Make shingles vaccination free for everyone aged 50 and older. Expand access to vaccination by removing the cost for eligible adults in this age group.

Housing and child care

  • 14. Turn more empty condominiums into affordable homes. Pursue measures to bring more vacant condo units into use as homes people can afford;
  • 15. Add 7,200 before- and after-school child-care spaces. Expand school-based care to help parents find convenient care for school-aged children. While Introducing a universal child-care fee cap on child-care fees, modelled on Ontario’s approach.

Transportation and public infrastructure

  • 16. Give local residents priority in BC Ferries reservations. Introduce a pilot reserving 12% of advance-booking space for local residents;
  • 17. Increase funding for public transit. Add $40 million annually to BC Transit funding to expand bus service, improve connections between communities, while delivering rapid bus transit in Metro Vancouver, making seniors’ bus passes free for low-income seniors and extending free transit passes to an estimated 350,000 eligible seniors across B.C.;
  • 18. Double provincial funding for public libraries. Permanently increase annual provincial library funding from $14 million to $28 million.

Environment, public safety and community support

  • 19. Protect more of B.C.’s land and water. Continue the commitment to protect 30% of the province’s land and water by 2030. Plus, fund climate action through new resource revenues. Dedicate a portion of provincial revenue from new oil and gas development to climate programs, beginning with a proposed $50-million investment;
  • 20. Expand involuntary care options in the Okanagan. Advance plans to increase access to involuntary mental-health and addiction treatment for people who meet the applicable criteria. Also, strengthen protections against gangs, guns and extortion. Make organized crime and extortion a campaign priority, with additional measures aimed at protecting communities and businesses.

For all of the commitments made to the citizens of British Columbia by the David Eby BC NDP government seeking re-election, in all of the polls published in the final week of the election campaign, it would seem David Eby is on his way to ignominious defeat this upcoming Saturday evening.

With each passing day the polls and the projected seat count for what now appears to be the outgoing British Columbia New Democratic government only worsens.

Below you will find the results of intensive polling conducted in all 93 riding across British Columbia. First up, focusing mainly on Metro Vancouver.

Not bad for the BC NDP: 35 NDP; 2 Greens; 12 Conservatives. Next up: the Interior.

The entire rest of the province is turning blue. There are few, if any, safe seats for David Eby’s BC NPD outside of the Metro Vancouver region, with a handful of seats on Vancouver Island, and one on the Sunshine Coast.

The only question that remains is: what will David Eby do on Election Night? Speculation is that if the election is a rout, and Mr. Eby’s party is only able to secure 29 or so seats — a possible outcome according to internal polls conducted by the Conservative Party of British Columbia — Mr. Eby will resign as leader of the BC NPD on Election Night.

VanRamblings would prefer that Mr. Eby tender his resignation in the new year.

Prior to calling the snap election, David Eby made a commitment to the members of his Cabinet and caucus: if he were to win anything less than a comfortable majority on Election Night, he would resign the leadership of the BC NDP this upcoming late winter / early spring, in order that a New Democratic Party leadership contest might be called by the party brass. Chances are the leadership convention would occur in late March, or early April, when a new leader of the party would be chosen by the party membership.

The heir apparent party membership wants: Brad West, the popular three-term Mayor of Port Coquitlam, former Executive Assistant to BC NDP Minister Mike Farnworth and a former communications and political action co-ordinator for the United Steelworkers (USW) union in B.C. There is little doubt that Ravi Kahlon and Christine Boyle would mount effective, well-run, well-financed campaigns for the party leadership, as well.

With the help of her brother-in-law Avi Lewis, the leader of the federal NDP, there is little doubt that Ms. Boyle and her backers and supporters would mount a strong campaign. Not to mention which, Dr. Cailey Lynch, the Premier’s better half, would support a run by Christine Boyle to ascend to the leadership.

Ravi Kahlon — one of the most reliable and most competent Ministers in the BC NDP government this past 9+ years — wants the leadership, feels he is owed the leadership of the party so badly that he can almost taste it.

What does a government led by Conservative Party of British Columbia “interim” leader Lorne Doerkson mean for the people of British Columbia? In a word: chaos.

Lorne Doerkson is not the leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, he is only the “interim” leader of the party, even if he becomes the Premier.

The constitution of B.C.’s Conservative party requires a leadership contest be held to elect their leader.

The Conservative Party’s Board of Directors have been attempting to convince elected members not to run against Mr. Doerkson, such that he would be acclaimed leader.

If you believe that is a likely scenario, we have a bridge we’d like to sell you, cheap.

You just know the whack job / far right / conspiracy theorist / freedom convoy element in the party will run one of their elected members for the leadership, and mount a campaign to have her or him become the 44th Premier of the province of British Columbia.

So, all the time that a Premier Doerkson should be attempting to put a government into place, rather than focus on the tasks at hand, he’d be traveling across the province during the first five weeks of his new administration, attempting to keep the job British Columbians elected him to.

Only in the wild west of B.C. politics could such a disastrous scenario unfold.

#BCPoli | VanRamblings Formally Endorses B.C. Conservative John Coupar in the Riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain

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Today, VanRamblings formally endorses B.C. Conservative candidate John Coupar in the riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain.

We know John Coupar to be a man of calm and reason, an accomplished businessman, a successful past Chairperson of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, and a man of character and integrity who would well represent the constituents within the riding he has long called home, and where he is well-acquainted with and knows the issues of concern to his neighbours, issues he would set about to remedy should he be elected to office this upcoming Saturday, as the Member of the Legislature representing Vancouver-Little Mountain.

John Coupar — a Red Tory in the mould of federal Conservatives like Joe Clark, Robert Stanfield, Erin O’Toole and Michael Chong — was the first potential B.C. Conservative Party candidate the nascent party’s leader, John Rustad, approached back in March to run with the newly insurgent British Columbia political party.

Although Mr. Coupar was offered the opportunity to run in the, perhaps, more winnable riding of Vancouver-Yaletown, he chose to run as the B.C. Conservative candidate in the riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain, as we say above, a neighbourhood he has long called home. It should be noted in passing that John’s NDP opponent Christine Boyle does not live within the boundaries of the riding; rather, Ms. Boyle calls the east side neighbourhood of Grandview-Woodlands home.

VanRamblings knows John Coupar to be a steady and progressive voice of reason and compassion, a democrat of the first order, and a defender of the public good.

We believe that it is critical John Coupar be elected this upcoming Saturday.

John Coupar would most assuredly be a calm and steady voice of reason within the B.C. Conservative caucus — someone his colleagues would turn to for direction when division arises — and should the Conservative Party of B.C. be elected to government on Saturday, October 19 — certainly not outside the realm of possibility, based on the latest polls —  a steady voice of reason around the Cabinet table.

One of the issues B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad has raised as a party platform in recent days is the commitment to eliminate the SOGI 123 programme that protects LBGTQ+ and gender variant children, a programme a recently published UBC longitudinal study found reduced discrimination, while creating a more welcoming & inclusive educational environment for students across the province.

UBC professor Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, Executive Director of the Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre at UBC’s School of Nursing, told CTV Vancouver …

“The longer SOGI 123 was in schools, we saw reductions in things like verbal harassment and social exclusion, physical assault in schools, as well as sexual orientation discrimination or discrimination because people thought you were gay, lesbian or bisexual,” she told CTV Vancouver. “Declining rates of discrimination weren’t only felt among 2SLGBTQ youth. That impact was felt by all students across the entire school, affecting the largest group in the school, of course, which would be heterosexual students.”

Should the Conservative Party of B.C. be elected to government this upcoming Saturday, as the newly-elected government looks to adopt an anti-bullying policy that would apply to all students, make no mistake, as a British Columbian, you want John Coupar’s voice to be heard as a member of the Committee of Cabinet — perhaps, along with Surrey-Cloverdale candidate, Elenore Sturko, Kelowna-Mission candidate Gavin Dew and North Island candidate, Dr. Anna Quindy, should they be elected — that would be struck to develop a new, reformed anti-bullying policy.

In April 2015, when a gender-variant policy, a year in the making, was presented to the elected Vancouver Park Board Commissioners, the most moving address to those gathered in a crowded Park Board conference meeting room was given by John Coupar, who thanked all of those who had presented to Park Board on an issue of importance to each person in attendance, as well as to him, saying …

“Sitting on Park Board for the past almost three years has proven to be the most enlightening and moving experience of my life, and never more so than was the case this evening. I want you to know that you have an advocate in me, and in my fellow Park Board Commissioner, Melissa De Genova, that we will fight for you, we will fight for inclusivity in our parks and in our community centres.

Working together with all of the Commissioners, I commit to you that our parks and community centres will become welcoming and safe havens for you, where you will be respected always.

I look forward to working together with you, and with Park Board staff, on the early implementation of all facets of the gender-variant policy on which you have worked so hard, and has proved of such service to our community. Should I be elected to Park Board for a second term this November, and become the Chairperson, I commit to ensuring the implementation of what you have asked for: gender neutral washrooms, carrels in changing rooms, and an exclusive and safe gender variant swim on Sunday mornings at Lord Byng and Templeton pools.

Throughout my life, I have made a commitment to inclusivity, fairness and equity — let us work together, go forward and write a new chapter in our social and political history in our city and at Park Board, as we work towards a community of comfort, respect and acceptance that serves the interests of all of our citizens.”

Make no mistake, John Coupar is tough and strong-minded, and — take our word for it — does not suffer fools gladly.

The B.C. Conservative Party, if they don’t know it to be the case already, will learn that John Coupar is also the quintessential team player, whose only ambition is to do well for the citizens of British Columbia. Whether in caucus, or in Cabinet, B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad will come to learn, if he doesn’t know it already, that John Coupar will always have his back, and over time will become a trusted and loyal lieutenant within an almost certain to be fractious caucus.

Over the course of the past fourteen years, VanRamblings has come to know John Coupar very well, as a man of uncommon intelligence and compassion, articulate, achingly bright and principled, whose love for and knowledge of British Columbia is unparalleled among any of our acquaintances.

Married to the love of his life, Heather, for the best part of his life, John Coupar — a native of Vancouver, who loves our city as he does our province — raised his 2 children in Vancouver. As his children grew and left the family nest, John and Heather downsized, about 15 years ago, moving into the Village on False Creek, considered by many to be one of the greenest and most livable communities on the continent.