The remaining 28 B.C. NDP MLAs are set to meet Thursday after the party’s snap election defeat, following David Eby’s resignation as leader.
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The 28 remaining B.C. NDP MLAs will meet on Thursday as the party looks to respond to a crushing election loss to the B.C. Conservatives last Saturday.
David Eby called the snap election seeking a stronger majority government and a fourth term, but the party’s result was its worst since 2001.
Eby has since resigned as NDP leader, and choosing an interim leader is among the topics expected to be discussed when the caucus meets.
North Vancouver–Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma said the party’s vote collapsed, with “hundreds of thousands of would-be voters choosing to stay at home instead,” and she described the loss as evidence the NDP needs to “re-earn the trust of the public.”
Ma said the NDP’s vote cratered during the snap election, with about 670,000 votes compared with about 950,000 in 2024.
Port Moody–Burquitlam NDP MLA Rick Glumac, who lost his seat to John McEwen of the Conservatives, said the result was not a surprise, but that the snap-election decision was the wrong call.
Glumac said the party lost “that connection” and the “clarity about what we stand for uncompromisingly,” even if the outcome may have differed with a different timing.
A former chief of staff for NDP premier John Horgan, Geoff Meggs, said voters were not seeing progress on key issues and pointed to factors including public-sector strikes and concerns about universal child care.
Meggs said the “critical factor” for an incoming leader is inspiring confidence in the caucus, then in voters, that the party is ready to govern.
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