Progressive voters in BC are feeling unwhelmed by their options
Theodore Abbott (he/him) // News Editor
Jasmin Linton (she/her) // Illustrator
In the days following the October 2024 provincial election, when ballots were still being counted, David Eby addressed voters, and announced that the “message,” as he put it, had been received, loud and clear. With an almost meek countenance, the NDP leader ate humble pie as he reflected on his party’s narrow victory over the Conservatives. But, one year out, it seems as though the NDP has done little to course-correct, leaving some progressive voters feeling left behind in B.C.’s political arena.
For those not up to speed with the current state of affairs, the political landscape in B.C. can be simplified as follows: The NDP, who in last year’s election won a slim majority, are centre/centre-left. The Conservatives, as their name suggests, are a right-wing party who rose to prominence after absorbing the now defunct BC Liberals (which had briefly rebranded as BC United). Further to the right is the newly formed OneBC, which was established by former Conservative MLA Dallas Brodie after she was ejected from Caucus for publicly mocking residential school survivors. Back in the middle is the aptly named CentreBC, which purports to offer a via media between the NDP and the Conservatives. Lastly, the left wing Green party maintains a small base of supporters, mostly concentrated around southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. With 93 seats in the B.C. legislature, the NDP hold 47, the Conservatives 39, OneBC with two, the Greens also with two and three independents.
Justine Davidson is a defence lawyer with the BC First Nations Justice Council, and a former NDP voter. When questioned by the Courier about the 2024 provincial election, Davidson admitted that she almost didn’t vote, emphasizing that progressive voters like herself were presented with a tricky dilemma: vote for a centrist NDP government, or throw away their ballot on a Green candidate with dim prospects.
Expressing a similar sentiment is Steve McClure, a freelance writer and editor, who says, “I don’t see myself represented by either party [the NDP or the Conservatives]. The NDP, along with many other social-democratic parties, has lost its sense of mission and purpose, and has succumbed to the lure of identity politics and neo-liberalism.” McClure also notes that “erstwhile NDP supporters” like himself may tend towards the BC Greens, but that he finds their “lack of ideological grounding and consistency troubling”.
With regard to the BC Greens, the election of 24-year-old Emily Lowan as party leader is a bright spot for a political brand that is otherwise declining at every level of government. While Lowan ran her leadership bid on a bold social-democratic platform, it’s yet to be seen if she will be successful in making the Greens a serious contender in the next election.
Offering a different perspective is D’arcy Pocklington, a CapU alumnus and front-line health care worker. Pocklington contends that electoral politics will never deliver the social change that is desired on the left. “Political parties cannot solve our problems. What we need is more extra-parliamentary political activity. More tenant unions. More land defenders. More feminist solidarity. More public transit enthusiasts. More public health advocates. More people building infrastructure that is controlled by ordinary people, not billionaires, not the state,” Pocklington stated in an interview with the Courier.
Pocklington also underscores that progressive policy changes always begin with strong social movements, and that political parties merely reflect the shifting attitudes in society. In the absence of such a social movement, Pocklington insists that the emergence of a new leftist party in B.C. is highly unlikely.
If this is true, then the imminent crumbling of the BC Conservatives exemplifies what can happen when a party takes shape strictly on the merits of voter dissatisfaction, and not a cohesive social movement.
With Rustad on his heels, it’s possible that the NDP will call a snap election—just as former premier John Horgan did in 2020—in order to consolidate power and capitalize on the Conservatives’ internal strife. If this comes to pass, then progressive voters will once again be left to choose between an increasingly centrist NDP government, or a Green party that is unlikely to be competitive in most ridings.
Although B.C. may seem primed for a new leftist party, without a strong grassroots movement the NDP is likely to remain in power for the foreseeable future. Much to the chagrin of progressive voters, B.C. is set to drift in the doldrums of moderate liberalism until the scale is tipped to the left or to the right.