Oct 27, 2026 · 14 min · 7 segments
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The British Columbia election began with Premier David Eby fighting Donald Trump.
Then it was about fighting new BC Conservative leader Lorne Dirksen.
In the end, it was Eby fighting Eby, his record, his narrative, and the fatigue of defending both in a terribly timed election to save a job he no longer seemed to love.
The election no one but he wanted went from snap to crackle to pop.
By Saturday night, the Premier was toast.
Eby launched the campaign comparing the challenges to wildfires.
He lost to a man who had actually been filmed fighting one.
Five weeks ago, Dirksen was a deputy house leader.
Then he was summoned to a smoldering conservative bonfire.
He doused the flames, called the exiles home, dispatched some of the in-house party pyromaniacs, and now he runs the fire hall.
Eby, meanwhile, lost his job Saturday night in an election he called both too late and too soon.
Too late, because the across-the-aisle disorder he meant to exploit was ending.
Carrie Lynn Findlay had resigned as conservative leader two days before the election call.
Instead of capitalizing on chaos, Eby confronted coherence.
Seven conservatives who had fled to the fledgling center B.C. party during Findlay's tenure quickly flocked back to the nest once she left.
Too soon, because he traded the rest of a mandate he held for the chance at one he'd have to win.
A guaranteed government until November 2028, in a slumping economy and a tight poll standing, was risked for one that would extend merely to November 2030.
His campaign began badly and never recovered its rhythm.
Governments usually wilt when they run out of ideas or trust.
Eby struggled to demonstrate the former and spent the latter as if it were a renewable resource.
His defeat was not the inevitable conclusion of an exhausted mandate, but an entirely avoidable acceleration of its end.
Convention has it that an early election is decried for a few days for its waste and opportunism.
Then a ballot box issue emerges, and voters focus on an opportunity they don't wish to waste.
In this case, though, the cynicism lingered because Trump's threat was hardly new.
What Mark Carney could ride last year as authentic, Eby was riding this year as an alibi.
The British Columbia election began with Premier David Eby fighting Donald Trump.
Then it was about fighting new BC Conservative leader Lorne Dirksen.
In the end, it was Eby fighting Eby, his record, his narrative, and the fatigue of defending both in a terribly timed election to save a job he no longer seemed to love.
The election no one but he wanted went from snap to crackle to pop.
By Saturday night, the Premier was toast.
Eby launched the campaign comparing the challenges to wildfires.
He lost to a man who had actually been filmed fighting one.
Five weeks ago, Dirksen was a deputy house leader.
Then he was summoned to a smoldering conservative bonfire.
He doused the flames, called the exiles home, dispatched some of the in-house party pyromaniacs, and now he runs the fire hall.
Eby, meanwhile, lost his job Saturday night in an election he called both too late and too soon.
Too late, because the across-the-aisle disorder he meant to exploit was ending.
Carrie Lynn Findlay had resigned as conservative leader two days before the election call.
Instead of capitalizing on chaos, Eby confronted coherence.
Seven conservatives who had fled to the fledgling center B.C. party during Findlay's tenure quickly flocked back to the nest once she left.
Too soon, because he traded the rest of a mandate he held for the chance at one he'd have to win.
A guaranteed government until November 2028, in a slumping economy and a tight poll standing, was risked for one that would extend merely to November 2030.
His campaign began badly and never recovered its rhythm.
Governments usually wilt when they run out of ideas or trust.
Eby struggled to demonstrate the former and spent the latter as if it were a renewable resource.
His defeat was not the inevitable conclusion of an exhausted mandate, but an entirely avoidable acceleration of its end.
Convention has it that an early election is decried for a few days for its waste and opportunism.
Then a ballot box issue emerges, and voters focus on an opportunity they don't wish to waste.
In this case, though, the cynicism lingered because Trump's threat was hardly new.
What Mark Carney could ride last year as authentic, Eby was riding this year as an alibi.
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