Election 2026: Campaign Roundup - Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of our British Columbia 2026 Campaign Roundup!

As rumoured for the last couple of days, Premier Eby has announced a snap election that will take place on October 24th.

As with the last provincial election, we'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

As always, our work is entirely funded by donations from British Columbians just like you, so if you appreciate the updates, please consider making a one-off donation or signing up as a supporter for just $10 a month - that's just 36 cents per email!

Campaign Roundup - Day 1:

• Earlier this afternoon, Premier David Eby announced a snap provincial election for October 24th, two years ahead of schedule. He also met the Lieutenant Governor, who accepted his request to dissolve the Legislative Assembly and issued 93 writs of election, officially marking the start of the campaign.
  
  
• Premier Eby blamed Donald Trump for the surprise election call, saying the trade war represented an existential threat to BC. Critics disagree, calling Eby opportunistic for wanting a snap election simply to take advantage of turmoil within the opposition BC Conservative Party. Eby himself called it a "fun question" and wouldn't rule it out when asked last week if he would call an election to take advantage of the Conservatives' position.
  
  
• Speaking of which, the BC Conservatives will contest the election with an interim leader, Lorne Doerksen, who was appointed to replace Kerry-Lynne Findlay after she resigned as party leader on Sunday. The party says it is prepared to field a full slate of candidates, while discussions about potentially bringing CentreBC into the fold are also underway. Five MLAs, including former leader John Rustad, have already rejoined the BC Conservative caucus after Doerkson extended invitations to those who had left or been expelled.
  
  
• Not every Conservative MLA is happy, however, as Brent Chapman, who was the BC Conservative MLA for Surrey-South until today’s election call, and is also Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s husband, has announced that he will join the OneBC party. He has not, however, announced whether or not he will run under the OneBC banner at the election, or is just joining the party.
  
  
• Premier Eby’s snap election call means this provincial election campaign will take place alongside municipal election campaigns, for which votes are already set to take place on October 17th to elect mayors, councillors, regional district directors, school trustees, and other local representatives. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim had criticized the idea of a snap election, saying that municipal elections deserve voters' "full, undivided attention".

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