British Columbia’s premier is pouring cold water on the idea of an early election, in the wake of a new poll showing a majority of respondents believe they’ll be headed to the polls this year.
The poll, conducted by Vancouver-based Research Co., found 53 per cent of respondents believed it was either “very likely” or “moderately likely” that B.C. will have a provincial election in 2023.
B.C.’s next election is currently scheduled for October 19, 2024 under the province’s fixed-election law.
Asked about the poll Wednesday, Premier David Eby suggested he had no interest in deviating from that date.
“I’ve been across this province, I’ve talked to a lot of people, they’re concerned about healthcare, they’re concerned about issues related to public safety, cost of living and making sure our economy is strong through a downturn, issues of housing, they want the government to take action, and they’ve not said to me that they want an election,” Eby said.
“We’ll continue to work on those priorities for British Columbians to deliver for them and then we have a fixed election date where they’ll have the opportunity to weigh in on how we’ve done.”
The Research Co. poll found BC Liberal voters (61 per cent) were most likely to believe an early election was on the way.
It found 52 per cent of BC NDP voters and 48 per cent of BC Green Party voters also thought an early writ drop could be in the offing.
The poll further found that a majority (53 per cent) of respondents expected the NDP to win if there was an early vote, compared with 28 per cent who believed the BC Liberals would be victorious.
Research Co. polled 800 adult British Columbians via an online study between Febr. 4 and Feb. 6, 2023. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.