B.C. Premier David Eby, shown in Burnaby earlier this month, spoke at the Union of BC Municipalities conference on Friday as speculation swirled that he would call a snap provincial election.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby on Friday refused to say whether he plans to trigger a snap provincial election, as two centre-right parties joined forces and the opposition Conservatives shed three more members in an escalating internal revolt.
In a question-and-answer period with Union of BC Municipalities conference delegates after his keynote address, Mr. Eby ducked questions about an early election call, which party insiders say could come in a matter of days.
Conference delegates on Wednesday had passed an emergency resolution urging Mr. Eby to hold off on calling a provincial election until after municipal voting on Oct. 17, to avoid interfering with local campaigns.
Mr. Eby told the crowd he understood the anxiety that duelling elections could create and he would take the resolution and its concerns seriously.
“We haven’t made any decisions yet,” he said, eliciting a couple of boos from the room.
The Premier was similarly tight-lipped while speaking with reporters afterward, using variations of the phrase, “I have no announcement to make about an election today” seven times in 20 minutes.
As Mr. Eby kept his intentions under wraps, the prospect of an imminent election accelerated efforts to consolidate the province’s centre-right, with two groups that had been charting separate paths instead joining forces.
Peter Milobar, who left the Conservative caucus on Aug. 14 to form his own party – which had not yet been named – with other defectors, on Friday replaced Mike Bernier as the leader of CentreBC. That party was established in March, 2025, after the collapse of BC United.
The move gives the party access to CentreBC’s established infrastructure and the heft of at least eight sitting MLAs recruited by Mr. Milobar, with more expected.
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At a joint news conference outside the convention, Mr. Milobar said he and Mr. Bernier had been in discussions about voting as a bloc, and had planned for an announcement on the steps of the legislature when the fall session resumed on Oct. 5.
“David Eby, one can only assume, very worried about a new upstart party with us and Centre BC starting to form together, decided to call an election on top of a by-election, which means Elections BC has to stop all paperwork of any other political opponent that might be trying to get registered,” Mr. Milobar said.
The new CentreBC Leader said the party is focused on affordability, housing, crime and health care, and not the “culture war” issues that the Conservatives are leaning into.
He added that CentreBC will field candidates “across the province.” Mr. Bernier, a former BC Liberal cabinet minister and MLA for Peace River South, said he had not yet determined if he would run.
The two were joined by Elenore Sturko – who has sat as an independent MLA since being removed from the Conservative caucus by former leader John Rustad last September – and other supporters and recent caucus departures.
Ms. Sturko said she was thrilled to receive a call from Mr. Milobar about joining the party.
“I was very, very enthusiastic to say yes, because it’s time for us to put professionalism first, British Columbians first, and to work together to defeat the NDP,” she said.
Meanwhile, the B.C. Conservative caucus bled three more MLAs on Friday, with a statement from Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay saying Trevor Halford, Claire Rattée and Mr. Rustad “will no longer serve as members” of the caucus, effective immediately.
“Our caucus and grassroots are ready, and we’re building a strong team of candidates,” the statement said. “There’s no room for internal power struggles or vanity projects.”
Ms. Rattée, who had been publicly critical of Ms. Findlay this week, countered in a statement on social media that the leader does not have the authority to remove members of caucus. Ms. Rattée added that she is among at least 10 Conservative MLAs who have signed a letter calling for Ms. Findlay to resign.
Mr. Halford, Ms. Rattée and Mr. Rustad were all listed as independents on the B.C. legislature’s website late Friday. The Conservative Party now has 25 MLAs, down from 44 in 2024.
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Speculation about an early election call reached a fever pitch during the annual conference of municipal and First Nations leaders. Earlier in the week, Mr. Eby confirmed he had tapped interim chief of staff Cheryl Oates to be the party’s provincial campaign director and had alerted Elections BC and his own party to be “election ready.”
Elections BC said in an e-mail on Thursday that it is preparing for an early vote by inquiring about electoral office and voting-place availability, restocking supplies and recruiting officials.
In his keynote address to the conference, Mr. Eby made a series of election-style pledges that included committing to pause the controversial expansion of the provincial sales tax to include professional services, and to build future generations of ferries at home instead of sourcing them from elsewhere.
The province had previously faced criticism over the decision of BC Ferries to source the first set of badly needed replacement ferries from China instead of building them in B.C. Mr. Eby clarified at the press conference after the speech that the deal for the first set of ferries would stand, but that future vessels will be built at home.
To do this, the province has doubled its funding for skilled-trades training to scale up shipbuilding capacity, Mr. Eby said.
During her address to delegates on Thursday, Ms. Findlay made clear she has no intention of stepping aside, telling the crowd that she’s “not going anywhere,” despite the growing discord in her party’s ranks.
The same day, her party was hit with fresh allegations that a former executive director had hired a private investigator to spy on several potential critics, both inside and outside of the caucus.
A snap election called before Sept. 26 would override a by-election scheduled that day for Abbotsford-Mission, where Ms. Findlay is aiming to secure a seat in the legislature and for which advance voting began Friday.
“He knows I was about to win,” Ms. Findlay said Thursday. “That’s okay. We’re ready. We’re ready to go, and we have a winning team.”