The Conservative Party of B.C. owes outgoing NDP premier David Eby an eternal debt of gratitude, not for his governance, but for saving their movement and paving the way for the party to win a commanding majority Saturday night.
asserted
party → owe → majority
The Conservatives are projected to win 62 seats to the NDP’s 29 as of 9 p.m. local time.
asserted
Conservatives → project → p.m.
In September, Eby looked at a bitterly divided and demoralized Conservative opposition.
asserted
Eby → look → opposition
He liked what he saw, and decided to call an election two years ahead of schedule.
asserted
he → like → schedule
His own NDP caucus was rebellious, with many MLAs fed up with his approach to “reconciliation,” among other files.
asserted
MLAs → feed → files
One NDP candidate even confessed that Eby’s razor-thin majority before the election meant every MLA held a potential veto over the premier.
asserted
MLA → confess → premier
The NDP leader decided he would show everyone who the boss was, and went to the voters early.
asserted
boss → decide → voters
In effect, British Columbians were made into pawns in the premier’s performance review.
asserted
Columbians → make → review
By doing so, he seems to have solved nearly everybody’s problems except his.
asserted
he → do → his
Now, instead of a strengthened NDP majority, there will be a Conservative majority when the legislature resumes business in Victoria.
asserted
legislature → strengthen → Victoria
The Canadian right badly needed this win.
asserted
right → need → win
After the 2025 federal election, many Conservatives remain haunted by their shattering defeat at the hands of Mark Carney’s Liberals.
asserted
Conservatives → remain → Liberals
This came after they had already been denied the chance to deliver Justin Trudeau a well-deserved reckoning after he stepped down before facing voters a fourth time.
asserted
he → come → voters
Young Conservative activists, clever staffers and loyal volunteers must have wondered whether their efforts would ever be rewarded.
asserted
efforts → wonder → ?
People can only take so many defeats before it all becomes too much.
asserted
it → take → defeats
Two days before Eby called the early election, then-Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned after her leadership had sent poll numbers into a nosedive and driven MLAs out of caucus.
asserted
leadership → call → caucus
Interim leader Lorne Doerkson was tapped to lead the chaotic Conservatives into the contest.
asserted
Doerkson → tap → contest
Within 48 hours, nearly all recently departed MLAs returned to the fold, and the Conservatives were more or less united.
asserted
Conservatives → depart → fold
Eby forced them up against the wall, and the Conservatives became a tenacious fighting force, shelving their bickering to rally around their new leader.
asserted
Conservatives → force → leader
A few fringe third-party candidates continued to air their personal grievances, but it made little difference.
asserted
it → continue → difference
Their former colleagues discovered that swallowing their pride and working together with discipline was preferable to further infighting.
asserted
swallowing → discover → infighting
As many pundits like to write, the Conservatives saw an opportunity, and “pounced.”
asserted
Conservatives → like → opportunity
Eby seemed almost eager to help them the entire time.
asserted
Eby → seem → them
When his attacks on U.S. President Donald Trump fizzled out, he turned on billionaire and B.C. legend Jim Pattison, the owner of Save-On-Foods, despite Pattison’s popularity in the province.
asserted
he → fizzle → province
Given Eby’s “B.C. Strong” campaign slogan, Pattison was a strange target, as the magnates is famous for philanthropy and dedication to the province.
asserted
magnates → give → province
When that attack failed, Eby decided to demonize personal-injury lawyers, who, he suggested, might make a buck from Conservative pledges to reform the insurance system.
uncertain
he → fail → system
Not exactly a sound strategy when the NDP depends upon white-collar votes more than ever.
asserted
NDP → depend → votes
Then Eby discovered that British Columbians, annoyed by his early election call, were warming to the B.C. Greens and Emily Lowan, their energetic young leader.
asserted
Columbians → discover → Greens
The premier repeatedly warned that voting Green instead of NDP would only split the vote.
asserted
voting → warn → vote
It turned out that Green voters had no issue with this proposition and resented being treated as unserious people whose only value was their votes.
asserted
value → turn → people
Not content with that, the premier decided to question Doerkson’s patriotism in the final stretch of the campaign, because some of the Conservative leader’s staff belonged to controversial Facebook groups that included Alberta separatists.
asserted
that → decide → separatists
It was a classic guilt by association attack, which also failed to sway voters.
asserted
which → fail → voters
Eby tried to link the controversy to the deaths of four Canadian servicemen in a training accident at CFB Wainwright.
asserted
Eby → try → Wainwright
Needless to say, standing on the graves of dead soldiers for partisan gain was an interesting move.
asserted
standing → say → gain
By the end of the campaign, the premier had made it clear just how many people he had a problem with: lawyers, businessmen, Albertans, Greens, Conservatives and more.
asserted
he → make → lawyers
Much like the failed campaign of ABC Vancouver in the local elections a week ago, the NDP seemed determined to make enemies wherever they could, rather than campaigning on their record.
uncertain
they → fail → record
It paid off in spades for the Conservatives, including a generation that came of age in the post-Stephen Harper decade, an especially bleak period for the right.
asserted
that → pay → right
Now, conservatives can walk with true swagger, having decisively defeated a powerful progressive government outside the traditional conservative heartland in the West.
asserted
conservatives → walk → West
They have learned which quarrels can wait, how a coalition recovers and what happens when the desire to govern finally outranks the desire to police each other.
asserted
desire → learn → other
It has hopefully set an example for their friends across the country.
asserted
It → set → country
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
