By Lori Turnbull

September 29, 2026

British Columbia Premier David Eby is not the first premier ever to call a snap election.

But by sending people back to the polls only two years into a majority government mandate with no discernible reason other than to cash in on his opponents’ implosion (more on this later), Eby has set a new low for premiers’ misuse of the prerogative power to dissolve the legislature.

Constitutionally and legally, he’s done nothing wrong. But democratically and politically, Eby’s opportunism risks turning the slippery slope of an off-putting, dubious election call into an exercise in self-immolation at the expense of both his own party and the time and attention of voters. The greater the public’s rebuke of his decision to put his own political and partisan interests ahead of all else, the better.

The only reason for Premier Eby to hold an election now is to capitalize on a moment of crisis on the opposition benches. He has not been a particularly popular political leader over the last couple of years. Eby’s approval rating dropped down to 31% in June, suggesting that his government would be in jeopardy if an election were called.

But the selection of Kerry-Lynne Findlay as leader of the B.C. Conservatives back in May proved a calamitous one for her party. Her leadership was a fiasco from the get-go, complete with a mass exodus of caucus members, a drop in financial contributions to the party, a slew of hirings and firings at the staff level, and rumours of an RCMP investigation to boot.

Premier Eby saw a window of opportunity with the Conservatives in crisis and decided to send voters to the polls with what he thought would be fewer viable choices. But there are early signs that voters are already angry over being used. An Angus Reid poll published September 24^th showed that two-thirds of voters disagreed with the early election call, bestowing an eight-point lead — 43-35 — on the Conservatives and their brand-new interim leader, Lorne Doerkson.

Premiers are, after all, political creatures who are out to gain and maintain power. And surely, when your opponent is on the ropes, the temptation to take advantage of the situation is enormous and tough to ignore. But there’s a line, and Premier Eby crossed it.

Plus, Findlay threw a wrench into Eby’s plans by taking herself out of the equation just two days before he went to the Lieutenant Governor, setting the election call in motion. That should have been enough for Eby to reverse course, but he went ahead with his gambit. Political observers have been parsing that sequence ever since, baffled as to why Eby didn’t call off his election call.

Now, instead of running against Findlay, he’s up against Doerkson — a much less polarizing person who seems practical and able to unify the party.

Premiers are, after all, political creatures who are out to gain and maintain power. And surely, when your opponent is on the ropes, the temptation to take advantage of the situation is enormous and tough to ignore. But there’s a line, and Premier Eby crossed it.

In terms of precedents, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called an early election for February of 2025, just over two and a half years into a majority government term. But while Eby is desperately trying to make this election about Donald Trump, Ford was much more grounded in making that claim.

The trade/tariff war had just started, and Ford argued that he needed the mandate to take whatever measures were necessary to protect Ontario and its key sectors. Did he really need a new mandate? No. He had a majority mandate already. But the threat was new and the opposition parties had leaders in place whose role it was to be election ready.

Again, while the timing of Premier Ford’s election call was politically motivated, it was not gratuitously exploitative of the opposition parties or, more importantly, the voters.

But we’ve learned that fixed election date legislation, which British Columbia has, is not an effective guardrail against the misuse of the premier’s power. Whether David Eby pays for that on October 24^th will be up to the voters of B.C.

Dr. Lori Turnbull is a professor in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University.