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Premier plays coy on snap election | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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  Speaker 1: the show. It's Friday, September 4th, 2026, and this is
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  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily. Well, good morning. Happy Friday to you.
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  Speaker 1: of next week for Political Capital Daily. So make sure
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  Speaker 1: some of the items you need to know for today
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: on what's looking to be a light Friday, but you
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  Speaker 1: never know in BC politics what sort of shenanigans may
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  Speaker 1: occur within the BC Conservative Party. There is believed to
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  Speaker 1: be a caucus meeting of the Conservatives coming up at
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  Speaker 1: a voluntary one at that. I hesitate to guess the
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  Speaker 1: outcome of that at this point with so many moving parts.
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  Speaker 1: as leader Carolyn Finlay continues to try and make her
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  Speaker 1: way through the Abbotsford mission by election. But what is
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  Speaker 1: on the schedule for today? Health Minister Ravi Kailan making
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  Speaker 1: an announcement about improving care for people with overlapping mental
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  Speaker 1: health and substance use challenges touring a construction site in Surrey,
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  Speaker 1: where a new mental health facility is being built at 8.30am.
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  Speaker 1: I had a conversation with the new health minister recently.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it'll be in Today's Business in Vancouver column
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  Speaker 1: for myself around midday, where he's talking about a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a reset on how the government approaches overdose prevention sites,
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  Speaker 1: recognizing that not everyone understands or is fully on board
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  Speaker 1: with the province's direction there. And you can go back
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  Speaker 1: to his order to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to
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  Speaker 1: stand down on an overdose prevention site at 900 Helmken
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  Speaker 1: Street shortly after he became the new health minister last month.
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  Speaker 1: It is a flashpoint. location for businesses and politicians worried
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  Speaker 1: about the street disorder and drug use and safety and
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  Speaker 1: crime issues that come with an OPS. And Minister Kalon
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  Speaker 1: saying that the province hasn't communicated well enough on the
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  Speaker 1: issue of overdose prevention, what it means. He wants to
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  Speaker 1: sit down with local business and political leaders in the future,
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  Speaker 1: come up with some sort of reset button. And his
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  Speaker 1: words to me about bringing people together and trying to
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  Speaker 1: achieve these outcomes, protecting folks from dying of overdoses, but
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  Speaker 1: ensuring that that there are paths here and stable housing
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  Speaker 1: and recovery that everyone in a community can get behind.
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  Speaker 1: So an interesting way that the new health minister is
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  Speaker 1: describing that approach, a bit of a soft reset in
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  Speaker 1: his minds in the drug policy space. Also, he talks
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  Speaker 1: a bit about health spending, which is probably the single
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  Speaker 1: biggest item in the BC budget each and every year,
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  Speaker 1: curtailing the growth of health spending, looking for new innovative ideas,
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  Speaker 1: some thoughts on from the health minister in my column
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  Speaker 1: in Business in Vancouver today. Have a read of that.
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  Speaker 1: Also on the schedule from the BC government, the Parliamentary
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  Speaker 1: Secretary for Armed Forces Development, Darling Rochford, is making an
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  Speaker 1: announcement about improvements to reservists who need to take leave.
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  Speaker 1: That'll be in Victoria at the HMCS Malahat site this morning.
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  Speaker 1: That is what is technically on the agenda for BC politics.
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  Speaker 1: Take a quick break. We've got lots of items, including
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  Speaker 1: several Interesting things from Premier David Eby at his most
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  Speaker 1: recent press conference coming up after a break. We'll hope
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  Speaker 1: you're enjoying Political Capital Daily free in your pod box
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  Speaker 1: its support of the show this season. And now, back
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  Speaker 1: to the show. Premier David Eby holding a press conference
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  Speaker 1: in Prince George yesterday, marking the official launch of construction
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  Speaker 1: on the North Coast transmission line. You probably heard that
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  Speaker 1: from the government quite a few times now, part of
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  Speaker 1: the Premier's economic agenda. That is a line to double
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  Speaker 1: electricity capacity from Prince George to Terrace over two phases,
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  Speaker 1: which the Premier has said will help electrify New LNG terminals, mines,
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  Speaker 1: critical minerals production, as well as capacity to ports. It
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  Speaker 1: is not something that's going to be done anytime soon.
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  Speaker 1: We're looking at the mid-2030s to get those first two
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  Speaker 1: phases done. But the premier, with federal officials, because this
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  Speaker 1: is a project that is on the federal major projects list,
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  Speaker 1: celebrating the almost 10,000 full-time jobs and $ 10 billion in
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  Speaker 1: annual GDP, to the province in this area when this
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  Speaker 1: project is under construction. So that was what the Premier
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  Speaker 1: was doing in Prince George, but he took some questions
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  Speaker 1: from the media. I want to play some clips here. First,
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  Speaker 1: on the issue of whether the NDP government may call
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  Speaker 1: an early election rather than wait two years to take
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  Speaker 1: advantage of the turmoil inside the BC Conservatives. This could
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  Speaker 1: also protect Premier Eby from any mutiny within his own
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  Speaker 1: party and strike when the polls show the NDP have
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  Speaker 1: a lead before whatever new center-right vehicle coalesces here. CTV's
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  Speaker 1: legislature reporter Rob Buffum asked again, I think three weeks
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  Speaker 1: in a row now, to the Premier on the issue
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  Speaker 1: of an early election and chronicling his answers has been
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  Speaker 1: easy because, well, actually interesting. The Premier started first saying no.
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  Speaker 1: The second week didn't answer it. And then he said....
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  Speaker 2: Will you rule out calling an early election either this
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  Speaker 2: fall or next spring? You know, Rob, I guess what
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  Speaker 2: I'll say at this point is there's total chaos on
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  Speaker 2: the conservative side right now. It's a giant mess. We
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  Speaker 2: have called an election. We've called a by-election. We've got
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  Speaker 2: a great candidate. And the focus today is announcements like this.
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  Speaker 2: The focus that our government has is on building up
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  Speaker 2: our province. it's an incredibly volatile time. I won't rule
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  Speaker 2: anything out.
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  Speaker 1: Won't rule anything out is not a no. And that
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  Speaker 1: is a change in the Premier's messaging and his answering
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  Speaker 1: of that question in just three weeks. So that is noteworthy.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying the NDP is prepping for an early election.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just saying the Premier is deliberately answering that question
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  Speaker 1: differently than he did just a couple weeks ago and
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  Speaker 1: not ruling anything out is not a no when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to a snap election. We do have the October
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  Speaker 1: municipal elections. The province can't go at that same time.
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  Speaker 1: That would be quite a mess. Afterwards tends to take
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  Speaker 1: you into that November, December time when people are busy
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  Speaker 1: getting ready for Christmas. Next spring, that is potentially possible,
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  Speaker 1: but who knows where the Conservatives will be then. One
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  Speaker 1: of the interesting questions everyone in BC politics is thinking
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  Speaker 1: about right now, I'm sure David Eby has advisers urging
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  Speaker 1: him to go early. And that is an interesting answer
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  Speaker 1: to the question. Secondly, the premier was asked, Hey, any
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  Speaker 1: of these nine conservative MLAs who've quit in the last
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  Speaker 1: 20 days or so, are you interested in bringing them
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  Speaker 1: into the NDP, courting them, helping to pad the NDP's
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  Speaker 1: majority beyond its current two votes? Uh, the premier did
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  Speaker 1: tend to rule that one out. Uh, have a listen
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  Speaker 1: to that.
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  Speaker 2: I would have to say that many of the, uh,
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  Speaker 2: conservative MLAs that are leaving, um, We disagree on a
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  Speaker 2: whole host of issues. Our relationship with the United States,
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  Speaker 2: the approach to the Trump administration, our relationship with First Nations,
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  Speaker 2: and how we deliver major economic projects in a time
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  Speaker 2: that our province and country needs it. The importance of
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  Speaker 2: the Human Rights Act and the Human Rights Code, protecting
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  Speaker 2: people from discrimination. These are foundational pieces for the NDP. So, no,
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  Speaker 2: we're not... I don't know what's happening with the Conservatives.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. No, according of some of the centrist former Conservatives
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  Speaker 1: who are starting their own party in the legislature, and
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  Speaker 1: to be fair, none of those MLAs, the nine, have
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  Speaker 1: expressed any interest in joining or working with the NDP.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, their move to a new party, in their words,
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  Speaker 1: if they support it, is to bring the NDP government
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  Speaker 1: down using a different So no cooperation there, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: sound like. Finally, the Premier didn't even have to be
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  Speaker 1: asked about the issue to take a run at tech
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  Speaker 1: giant OpenAI yesterday for its role in failing to alert
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  Speaker 1: police about the online harms the shooter in the Tumbler
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  Speaker 1: Ridge tragedy showed to chat GPT before that 18-year-old shot
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  Speaker 1: and killed eight people. In February, this comes after news
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  Speaker 1: that this week, 30 new complaints and lawsuits have been
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  Speaker 1: filed by the families of victims and teachers. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: the Premier had to say about that.
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  Speaker 2: But let me say how deeply disappointed, and that is
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  Speaker 2: a polite word, I am that open AI has walked
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  Speaker 2: away from the table that they have created, uh, uh,
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  Speaker 2: through negligence, uh, disaster, the likes of which we have
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  Speaker 2: not seen in British Columbia and that they feel no
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  Speaker 2: compulsion to be sitting down with these families, with these students,
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  Speaker 2: with their representatives to make it right. Um, it is, uh, inexcusable.
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  Speaker 2: It is disgraceful. And it underlines why these companies cannot
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  Speaker 2: be trusted. They can't be trusted to regulate themselves. They
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  Speaker 2: can't be trusted in what they say. And it is
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  Speaker 2: up to governments to step in and ensure, whether through
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  Speaker 2: lawsuits or regulation, to make sure that our kids are safe.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's meta or open AI. The
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  Speaker 2: story is the same.
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  Speaker 1: Some other issues on the political agenda from yesterday will
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  Speaker 1: extend into I'm sure in discussion in the days ahead,
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  Speaker 1: the government did announce an extension of its downtown Eastside advisor,
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  Speaker 1: former mayor, Senator Larry Campbell's contract to investigate how services
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  Speaker 1: are being provided and money is being spent in the
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  Speaker 1: downtown Eastside was supposed to be for six months at
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  Speaker 1: a cost of $ 92, 000. It was extended for another six
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  Speaker 1: months because Mr. Campbell said he needed more time. And
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  Speaker 1: now it has been extended again. for an additional six months,
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  Speaker 1: bringing to a total here of $ 276, 000 in expenses over
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  Speaker 1: 18 months. You might remember Mr. Campbell was hired after
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  Speaker 1: the government was forced to dismiss Michael Bryant from that
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  Speaker 1: job over backlash that he was going to get paid $ 150, 000
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  Speaker 1: for a six-month contract. So instead, we are paying $ 276, 000
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  Speaker 1: for an 18-month contract. pushing this beyond the municipal election,
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  Speaker 1: and whatever final report and recommendations are made by Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Campbell won't be known when voters go to the municipal
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  Speaker 1: elections in October. Other issues from yesterday, the B.C. government
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  Speaker 1: and the city, and I'm out with a joint statement
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  Speaker 1: on housing. The housing minister, Christine Boyle, said B.C. will
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  Speaker 1: move to a recovery-oriented housing site at the new purpose-built
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  Speaker 1: housing project coming to the city in Terminal Avenue. Why
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  Speaker 1: are we mentioning this? Well, a year ago, Nanaimo Mayor
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  Speaker 1: Leonard Krogh asked the province publicly to make a sober
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  Speaker 1: housing development site to reduce exposure for people who want
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  Speaker 1: to recover from drugs and alcohol and not have it
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  Speaker 1: used around them. The province at the time basically said,
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  Speaker 1: no way, that is not what we're doing. That's not
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  Speaker 1: what our facilities do do, and it's not what we're
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  Speaker 1: going to have here. But the mayor kept pushing, the
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  Speaker 1: province got blowback, and here we are, a back down
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  Speaker 1: and a victory for the Nanaimo mayor. I will just
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  Speaker 1: point out here for the context of this story, Mayor
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  Speaker 1: Leonard Krogh, who is a former New Democrat MLA, has
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  Speaker 1: been nearly first out of the gate and at the
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  Speaker 1: very front of warning the province about the following issues
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  Speaker 1: and shifting public attitudes. I'm just going to list these
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  Speaker 1: off here. Safe supply, including pharmacies in Nanaimo where safe
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  Speaker 1: supply pills are being diverted to criminal enterprises. decriminalization with
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  Speaker 1: a lack of public safety on public drug use, prolific
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  Speaker 1: offenders with many Nanaimo businesses like a serious coffee downtown
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  Speaker 1: with repeated broken windows, involuntary care with people throwing bricks
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  Speaker 1: at pregnant women in the city, and the mayor urging
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  Speaker 1: the province to lock them up and create a new
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  Speaker 1: provincial mental health institution. The mayor has been almost the
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  Speaker 1: first out of the gate in each of those issues
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  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the issues. And each time the
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  Speaker 1: reaction from the province has been basically to kind of
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  Speaker 1: lump him up with people that they accuse of fear-mongering
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  Speaker 1: on the issues. And each time Mayor Krogh has been
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  Speaker 1: ultimately proven right that he has a better read on
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  Speaker 1: the public sentiment and the problem at hand than the
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  Speaker 1: NDP government. Once again, victory Krogh. Maybe the government should
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: just start listening to the guy. I will add one
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: other issue in here. It is something I think we're
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: going to hear more about and it's going to percolate.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of details, but the government
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: did put out a news release opening public consultation on
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: what's called a dock management plan for the Southern Gulf Islands.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Now you might remember a dock management issue on the
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  Speaker 1: Sunshine Coast infuriating homeowners because the province went in and
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  Speaker 1: tried to change a bunch of rules and docks that
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  Speaker 1: were already built on the water. to address local First
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  Speaker 1: Nations concern that is now happening on the southern Gulf Islands.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't seen a lot of reaction to this, but
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  Speaker 1: I would say watch out for it because it's one
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  Speaker 1: of the issues at the time of kind of a
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: flashpoint on reconciliation that if docks are changed for the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: purpose of archaeological, heritage, shared purposes, ocean access purposes, harvesting
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: marine foods for the local nations. There will be, I think,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: some conflict there, and we'll see where that plays out.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Feedback is open until October 18th. The draft on this
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: is more than 105 pages long. There's lots of sections
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: about new requirements for people to get archaeological and heritage
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: site analysis if they think that a dock is close
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to that, and all sorts of different things there. So
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  Speaker 1: just flagging that, because you may in fact hear that
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  Speaker 1: later on as people begin to digest that issue. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: what a week in BC politics. Lots that has happened
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: in this week, and I appreciate you coming back and
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  Speaker 1: joining Political Capital Daily as we started our fall and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: winter season of the show. We're going to be going
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: all the way through the fall and the winter until mid-December.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Week one down, many more to go. We'll see you
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Take care.