Eby resigns as B.C. NDP leader after snap election gamble fails to pay off

British Columbia voting for change for the first time in nearly a century. The Conservatives will form the province's government and it will be a majority. We've got a province to build and I can't think of better people to build it with than you. This is strong leadership for serious times. Let's do this, British Columbia! The Premier-designate, Natalie Burlinson, speaking last night. He took over leadership only two days before the NDP's David Eby called a snap election. The Conservatives were in disarray after their former leader resigned, but Burlinson led the party to one of the biggest political comebacks in the province's history, and Eby's decision to call the election two years early, now very much under scrutiny. The CBC's Katie DeRosa joining us now live from Vancouver. What direction does this mean BC is headed in now, Katie? Well, you know, David, Natalie Burlinson is buoyed by a huge mandate, at least 64 seats, as we just saw a blue wave sweep over the province, including the suburbs and Metro Vancouver parts that, you know, the New Democrats previously really held on to, just, you know, consumed by this conservative sweep. Natalie Burlinson is the first premier from B.C.'s interior in 40 years since Bill Bennett, and he promised to be a premier for the entire province. Among his key promises, cut taxes, keep emergency rooms in rural parts of the province open, and supercharge B.C.'s economy by cutting red tape. Here's a bit of what he had to say about his priorities in his victory speech last night. We will host a business summit next year in Vancouver that will be the envy of the world. We will welcome capital back to our province. You can plan around a no, but you can't plan around a maybe. I believe in cutting red tape. I believe in energy. We will double, yes, we will cut red tape like it's never been cut before. Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Natalie Burlinson on social media, saying he looks forward to working together to build homes and unleash Canada's potential as an energy superpower. And on that energy file, Burlinson is very supportive of the planned oil pipeline from Alberta to B.C.'s southern coast. But that project needs First Nations consultation. And that is something that Burlinson, you know, a little bit of a one promise that he pledged on the campaign trail was to repeal DRIPA or the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. And that is very controversial. There is a lot of pushback among Indigenous communities to that plan. So whether he will get that Indigenous cooperation that he needs and that the federal government needs on that pipeline could be up in question. Katie, I do want to talk about the gamble gone bad for the NDP. You were at their headquarters last night. So I will just quickly ask you, how much sleep have you had? I will say zero. So this morning, this morning I was on with Pia Chattopadhyay and I kept saying today because instead of yesterday. So that's that's a little bit. Everything's blended together. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Look, let's talk about the NDP in spite. And I appreciate you coming on in spite of zero sleep, such as an election night bleeding into the next morning. This was a gamble gone bad for David Eby. What will be the ramifications of that for the NDP? Yeah, I mean, to call this a political miscalculation is a huge understatement. Nine years of NDP government comes to an end because of this gamble, this snap election call when the NDP had a majority government that is criticized throughout the entire campaign. That was a question David Eby got almost every day on the campaign. Last night, one of his NDP stalwarts, Adrian Dix, was asked, was it a mistake? And he said, of course it was a mistake. But he wouldn't say if he was among those who told David Eby, don't call the snap election, when it was clear Carolyn Finley had resigned. And one of the early questions I asked David Eby on the first day that he called that snap election campaign, Have you effectively united the right as everyone is coalescing behind Lauren Dercin? He didn't answer that question directly, but that is what happened. And now we are hearing, heard last night from David Eby, he will resign as NDP leader. And here's a bit of his concession speech. I'll be offering my resignation as premier, obviously, but just as importantly as the leader of the BC NDP um this uh is obviously something i do with a very heavy heart um but it is time for new leadership within our party so that new leadership we don't know how soon a leadership race will happen but the party will have to rebuild after its worst showing in 25 years i'm sure there are a lot of there are some uh cabinet ministers who might be interested in this post uh interested in the leadership as well as outsiders uh but again certainly throughout this entire campaign it was becoming clear the polls were in favor of the BC Conservatives and the polls actually didn't even project how big a majority it would be it's not even a tight race we don't have to wait for any recounts it's a definitive conservative majority and David Eby last night came out looking tired, dejected, drained. And I think that's how a lot of new Democrats are feeling after this election campaign. Katie DeRosa, you've made a lot of sense in spite of very little sleep. Thank you very kindly, but I do hope you get some rest today. Thanks, David. Now, many are going to be talking about this election for years to come. Gordon Campbell, one of them. He served as B.C.'s premier from 2001 to 2011, won three majority governments for the BC Liberals before stepping down, and then he became Canada's High Commissioner to the UK for five years. Gordon Campbell with us now live from Vancouver. Gordon Campbell, good morning to you. Good morning to you. Look, I do want to talk about the NDP, but the Conservatives, the government coming in. First time in almost a century they will form government. A party that had no leader two days beforehand now has a Premier who had no plans to be leader. Can you just speak about how extraordinary all of this is even in a province that has crazy politics Well, I think it's, it's exceptional is what I would call it. It's, it's a phenomenal accomplishment. I think for Lauren Decurion to bring everybody together in a very short period of time. Five weeks ago, I think Lauren might have been on vacation in Africa so this is an incredible step forward for, for Lauren and for the BC Conservatives but equally it's an incredible step forward for British Columbia. We now have a province of promise and possibility again I think people are very excited and I think it really was an accountability election where the public said okay that's enough of this kind of politics, we're worried about our families, we're worried about our future, we're worried about our paychecks, we want to move forward in British Columbia and Lauren Decurion gave people that opportunity to to pass their vote and pass that judgment and now he's got the exciting opportunity of opening British Columbia up again for investment, for jobs and for opportunity. But this was a party, Gordon Campbell, that looked like it was eating itself. There were people resigning left, right and centre, ultimately pushing the leader herself out. In comes Lauren Decurion. How did the party just get organized enough to not just run an election, but win it? Well, I do think it's a real accomplishment. I think, number one, there was a real pulse in British Columbia that called for change. Obviously, Mr. Eby didn't notice that but you know I think in British Columbia people wanted to restore a province where equality came first where the economy created opportunity for their kids where their paychecks had a chance to grow again and Lauren Decurion is the kind of leader who brings people together, he deliberately did that while he was in caucus before and the caucus said this is the man that we'd like to take us forward so he started with the strong, with strong support from people in the caucus and reached out across the province and I think as you mentioned in the introduction. Lawrence is the first premier we've had from the interior for 40 years in British Columbia. He's the first Conservative premier, I think, since 1892 or something like that. So it is a phenomenal feat. I was saying last night to folks that, you know, this is really a historic event, and they'll remember when this happened, when the people of British Columbia came together to say, we're going to hold a government that's been cynical, that's been dishonest, that's misled us. We're going to hold them to account, And we're going to elect a new group of people that's straightforward and decent as represented by Lawrence Dirksen and the B.C. Conservatives. I do want to compare two elections if I can. I look at Ontario and Doug Ford, who sensed a weaker opposition, called an early election, very much worked out for him in Ontario. David Eby sensed a weaker opposition, called an election two years earlier than necessary, and it did not work out for him. What do you think the difference is? well i think the difference is in british columbia there was a very close election in 2024 uh it was you know it was about three uh three seats i think at that time and what people discovered was mr Eby had not been straightforward with them in that election that he really was moving forward and continued a sort of a program of secrecy and holding the public out and the province was falling further and further behind and i think it was time people said it's time we took this our future into our own hands it's time we required our politicians to be open and straightforward and they saw Lawrence Dirksen as a man who's decent who's honest is straightforward he's worked in british columbia he understands the whole province so for example when you talk about health care he knows what it's like in rural health care where rural emergency wards close down that's something that you don't have the same sense of in the Lower Mainland, Lawrence has that He brought people together from the north, from the Kootenays, the interior, Vancouver Island and Vancouver. He expanded the base. I think that was important. And he invited people in and he said, I'm going to treat you openly and honestly. I'll tell you what I think. And you get to make your own decisions. So I think he was just a breath of fresh air at a time where British Columbians were feeling like they'd lost something. They'd lost the sort of the promise and opportunities that BC represented. And they wanted to make sure that Canada was as strong as it could be by making B.C. as strong as it could be. There had been some dealmaking between the federal government, Alberta, B.C. on the energy file preceding this election. Is any of that in doubt now? Is it all strengthened? Take me through that. I think it's strengthened. I think British Columbia wants to have an energy future. I think that we want to have a future where our natural resources are the foundation that British Columbians can move forward on, whether it's mining or energy, whether it's forestry, we have to open those opportunities up. We have to reestablish the fact in British Columbia that we're all in this together, that we, in fact, as we look forward, there's equal opportunity across the province, that we build the kind of economic future we need, because nothing, nothing benefits from a weak economy. And that's what we've had in British Columbia. If we want to improve health care, education, the economy, job opportunities for young people, we have to have a strong economy and Lawrence is going to focus on that and move us forward I'm sure I do want to ask you about Lawrence Dixon and he may be premier designate but he's still just the interim leader of the Conservative Party does this solidify him in the role oh for sure absolutely it does he's going to be the leader of the Conservative Party for I think for as long as he wants he's done something that's incredible he's brought together people from all over this province and I think he's got a plan that he can lay out that he can now put the execution behind that and get to work. We don't have any time to lose in British Columbia. We've already lost nine years. We have to move forward now. And I think Lawrence Dixon and the B.C. Conservatives will do that. The province has a very significant deficit, somewhere in the order of $14 billion. How does this Conservative government, as you know, the first in nearly a century, how does it tackle that deficit? Well, I think the first step is to make sure the economy starts to move forward again. I think Lawrence has already announced that he's going to provide people with a thousand dollar reduction in their personal income tax because fundamentally he believes that that actually people can make better decisions for themselves than the government can in many cases so as the economy grows you've got to look at where there's there's opportunities for savings in government and they're across the board in British Columbia where our capital projects have been you know running huge huge uh overrun cost overruns i think we have to get back to the discipline of doing that properly get back to open tendering make sure that the province is a place that people want to invest and where we have the certainty necessary to invest. British Columbia has been a province of real uncertainty. Where Lauren Dirksen has been very clear. He's going to protect private property. He's going to move us forward with a solid foundation that will give people a sense of hope again. Gordon Campbell, appreciate your time. Thank you. Okay, good to talk to you. That is Gordon Campbell.