FLETCHER: There’s a political crisis in BC (no, not the Conservatives)

Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.A leader is toppled in a nasty faction fight that spills into the open at a moment of peak media exposure. The rifts had already spawned three independents and two splinter parties, one of which has status in the legislature thanks to an overly generous rule awarding official status and taxpayer resources for only two elected members.Fundraising has collapsed, and the leader of the opposition finally resigns in the face of a caucus revolt that he warns was about to escalate into “civil war.” What could be worse than that?How about being the governing party that is still losing to this opposition?.MACLEOD: Let the people speak.The drama around deposed BC Conservative leader John Rustad is catnip to the provincial media. Crisis after crisis hits the provincial economy, but these aren’t sexy enough for the six o’clock news.As the BC Conservative caucus revolt began to unfold, reporters were quick to record Eby’s song of celebration. It’s a “hodgepodge of craziness,” he said, rattling off selected opposition sins including “anti-vax conspiracy theories” and “residential school denialism,” a new variant of “climate denialism” that is considered a sin by those who decide things based strictly on their feelings.It wasn’t that long ago that another Canadian party leader was swept away by a caucus revolt. You remember Justin Trudeau. His party survived that uprising, sparked by a finance minister who refused to table another disastrous financial update, and went on to win the ensuing election by running against Donald Trump..I’m told that Eby has been itching to solidify his fragile hold on the BC legislature by calling an election and running against Trump. He was at it again at his wrap-up news conference for the fall BC legislature session.Knowing he would face questions about the latest blow to BC’s falling forest industry, Eby opened with a reference to the “attack from the south” from Trump’s tariffs and lumber duties. The blow was Domtar’s announcement that it was closing the Crofton pulp mill and laying off 350 people on Vancouver Island, and Domtar’s CEO made it clear Trump had nothing to do with it.Crofton doesn’t sell anything to the US. It was reduced to buying wood from the US, however, to keep the money-losing mill going as long as it could in the face of the BC NDP’s accelerating restrictions on BC’s timber supply. I’ve written recently about the sweeping changes being made to Crown land access in the name of vaguely defined indigenous heritage and “landscape planning,” on top of “old growth” preservation that plays well with urban folks who don’t like forestry..QUESNEL: Confronting the uncomfortable truth about Christian antisemitism.How fragile is Eby’s hold on power? The BC legislature speaker had to cast a tie-breaking vote to keep his government going after the NDP leader dared critics to vote against his bill to establish a new power line to service northwest BC mining and LNG exports.Here in the age of spin and misinformation, almost nothing you hear about this legislation is accurate. Eby decried the two-member BC Greens for voting against the “no-brainer” North West Transmission Line, after he declared it a matter of confidence that his party would stand or fall on.It was a rare moment of opposition unity to vote against the bill, and it wasn’t because they don’t like the power line or think a law is needed to build it. The bill gives Eby’s cabinet authority to pick and choose who gets BC Hydro’s much-in-demand industrial power..Data centres are priced out, forced to bid for electricity under the new NDP law. They will go to Alberta and Saskatchewan, after Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to dump the Trudeau-era rule that prevents burning natural gas for caseload power.Eby still hasn’t recovered from the shock of Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith taking steps to sail through his beloved Canada-only oil tanker ban. He even warmed to the idea of a refinery on BC’s North Coast, a heresy that his urban base may start to digest by Christmas dinner.With the BC Conservative crisis passing, Eby can look forward to his menu for 2026: loss of Nutrien’s potash port to Washington, more ER closures, more deaths on surgical and diagnostic waiting lists, more mills shutting down, more fallout from the Cowichan court ruling against private property, more indigenous protests against industry, more drug-fuelled street disorder, more violent crime, more record deficits, and so on.Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.tomfletcherbc@gmail.comX: @tomfletcherbc

FLETCHER: There’s a political crisis in BC (no, not the Conservatives)

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