EDITORIAL – Byelection results say very little about state of B.C. politics

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

LET’S TAKE A BREAK from the usual petty, sourpuss politics at City Hall — which carried on unabated yesterday — and take a look at the provincial scene for a change of pace.

The good news is there will be no early election call despite the results of last weekend’s two byelections, according to Premier David Eby.

That’s a good call, assuming he sticks to it. Nobody wants an early election. The current scheduled date for the next general election in B.C. is Oct. 19, 2024 and that’s soon enough.

Many pundits are proclaiming the byelection results as a major victory for the NDP and a resounding defeat for BC United but Eby knows you can’t rely on byelections as a reflection of what a general vote would be.

The NDP was expected to retain both the Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Langford-Juan de Fuca ridings and it did, handily.

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Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.