Eby's snap-election video is 'ratioed' on X as even NDP Reddit turns sour

PENTICTON — Premier David Eby’s first overnight pitch for the October 24 election landed under a pile of replies on X, a mismatch users call a “ratio.”A “ratio,” in the platform’s slang since 2017, occurs when replies swamp likes and reposts. The logic is that 'likes' typically indicate approval, while replies usually mean the crowd came to argue. Eby’s video of the writ drop, along with accompanying explanatory text, was posted after 5 p.m. PDT Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, it had garnered 2,549 replies, compared with 339 likes and 103 reposts, as well as 142 quote posts and just over 204,000 views — a seven-to-one “ratio” implying a severely negative reaction.."I want to speak with you directly about why I’ve called an election for October 24th," Eby wrote. "Trump is attacking our jobs, raising our costs and threatening our sovereignty. The conservatives want to back down. Not me. Join me in standing up for Canada and building B.C. strong."The replies were overwhelmingly negative..Vancouver realtor and podcast host Steve Saretsky wrote, "Elect me if you have Trump derangement syndrome. Saved you 90 seconds.".National Post columnist Amy Eileen Hamm replied, "Pretty sure you just cooked your own goose, sir." .Another user, @Kaj36K, said, "And your ratio, I’ve never seen anything this bad on X.".X is not a poll, of course, and its user base has shifted significantly to the political right in recent years. As such, users who stay up to reply to a premier are a self-selected crowd, and official accounts often take a beating.Even so, the scale of this response was unusual for a sitting premier’s announcement video: more than seven replies for every like and more than 20 replies for every repost.What should be particularly concerning for the BC New Democrat election war room, however, is the negative reaction and pileup appearing on Reddit, which traditionally has a user base more sympathetic to left-wing parties..User u/afpb_ wrote, "If the BCNDP loses this, it is 100% on them." The post said the government had "every chance to implement proportional representation and abolish the FPTP electoral system," that any reform would have left "absolutely zero chance for the Conservatives, Centre Party or OneBC," and that the contest was now "a damn coin toss." It asked, "For what? A bigger majority? A bigger majority does nothing." It closed, "Genuinely disgraceful. Eby's playing political games."A reply from Inner-Fee6024, which had more upvotes than the original post in the capture, said provincial NDP governments "refusing to pursue electoral reform is so infuriating." Similar complaints ran through r/britishcolumbia and r/vancouver after the Government House address: the call was a "super risky gambit," a longtime NDP voter did not know where to go next, and civic candidates were being asked to share a month with a provincial writ..Back to X, meanwhile, the BC Conservatives are also hounded by persistently negative comments, much of which coming from the party's own base. Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned as leader Sunday after a week of caucus letters and an alleged tape surfaced of her husband speaking in a "threatening manner."Party sources told the Western Standard the same morning that Findlay, her husband — Surrey South MLA Brent Chapman — were being informed they would not be permitted to run as Conservatives once a snap writ dropped. Chapman confirmed the walk himself. He posted a two-page letter at 11:24 a.m. PDT and joined OneBC..Some of the loudest conservative accounts on X — the independent posters and video hosts the trade calls "influencers," people with large followings who are not on a party payroll — spent Tuesday and Wednesday saying they were done with the Conservatives and moving to OneBC.Marc Nixon wrote that members chose Findlay, that the caucus fractured instead of uniting behind her, and that "we are moving our support to OneBC the true conservative choice.".Mario Zelaya, an Ontario influencer who frequently opines on British Columbia politics, told the party the "major content creators that LIVE in BC" were already gone and that the "ONLY chance at victory" was to bring Dallas Brodie back..Anthony Russo, who was a familiar face during the BC Conservatives' leadership race, posted he too was leaving the Conservative Party of BC and joining OneBC..That said, while reactions to Eby’s writ drop were overwhelmingly negative, and negativity also persists around the BC Conservatives following Findlay’s ugly departure as leader chosen by party members, there was also significant positive reaction to Lorne Doerksen’s performance at a Tuesday afternoon press conference in Vancouver..Doerkson held his first newser in the job at Crab Park in Vancouver after Eby dropped the writ, Milobar standing with him.He called the election cynical, said he is running to be premier, and put repealing DRIPA first. People who had barely heard his name marked the tone. Watchers called him calm, collected and "not scary." .The two main parties spent Tuesday moving in the same direction as the online commentary.Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson had already readmitted Trevor Halford, Linda Hepner, Scott McInnis, Claire Rattée and John Rustad on Monday evening and called the caucus "back up to 29." On Tuesday, the party welcomed Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day, who had sat as an Independent Conservative since August. The same afternoon CentreBC accused Peter Milobar of walking back to the Conservatives four days after taking its leadership.The New Democrats moved the other way. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, the Saanich South MLA, said Monday she would not seek a sixth term after 17 years. .After the writ dropped Tuesday, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Kelly Greene said she would not run again in Richmond-Steveston, citing her opposition to the government's Tilbury LNG expansion. .And perhaps most surprisingly, Health Minister Ravi Kahlon posted at 4 p.m. PDT that after three election cycles it was "the right time for the next champion of North Delta to step forward." He became the third cabinet minister to stand down from the October 24 ballot, a month after Eby moved him into the health portfolio..Nominations in the 2026 BC provincial election close October 3 at 1 p.m. Pacific. Advance voting runs October 16 to 21. British Columbians vote Saturday, October 24.

Eby's snap-election video is 'ratioed' on X as even NDP Reddit turns sour

Related Stories

Elizabeth May says Alberta’s West Coast oil pipeline has 'no business case'

CentreBC says 'Milobar flips – again'

UPDATE: Eby calls an October 24 election and casts Trump as an 'existential' threat

WATCH: Mother bear killed by B.C. conservation officers after wandering into Hope pharmacy with cub