The recent federal byelections underscored how much Premier David Eby wants to hitch his party’s wagon to Prime Minister Mark Carney and how badly he wants to distance his government from the federal NDP.
Commenting on the federal Liberal Party clean sweep of all three ridings – winning an average of 55% of the vote in each – Eby displayed an enthusiasm for the results rarely seen from the leader of a party not on the winning side.
“Congrats to Prime Minister Carney for the strong showing of public support of his unambiguous agenda about strengthening Canada, about diversifying our trade relationships and that includes an historic agreement with BC to invest in our trade infrastructure and major projects in our province to support the entire Canadian economy,” he gushed to reporters the day after the byelections.
Barely pausing to take a breath, Eby continued to heap effusive praise on a party that absolutely buried the federal wing of his own party in all three byelections.
“I am not surprised to see Canadians turn out to support that agenda. It’s an agenda that I enthusiastically endorse, and I look forward to working with these new MPs in whatever role they take on,” Eby declared.
Did you catch all that, federal NDP leader Avi Lewis?
That was the NDP premier taking absolute glee in a Liberal Party pasting of Lewis’ own party (although it did finish a very distant second in Toronto-area riding byelection). The federal NDP candidate in North Vancouver-Capilano finished an embarrassing fourth, trailing even the Green Party candidate.
So, what is going on here? Why is an NDP premier expressing more enthusiastic support for a federal Liberal prime minister than ever heard before?
Three things.
First, Carney is phenomenally popular. He rescued the federal Liberals from certain electoral disaster and turned political black coal into gold.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s continuing threats to Canadian sovereignty have increased and entrenched the Canadian public’s support for Carney.
So, it makes sense for Eby to tie himself and his party to the most popular politician in the country as much as possible.
Second, as Eby noted, his government shares the Carney government’s view on industrial development and infrastructure projects and needs that government’s financial partnership in many places.
And third, the federal NDP has very little in common with the B.C. NDP government when it comes to public policy and economic development.
In fact, it is almost as if the two parties occupy different political planets, even though the two are loosely tied in a party constitutional basis. Under Lewis’ leadership, the federal NDP has come out strongly against some of the key pillars of the B.C. NDP government’s economic strategy, most notably its opposition against the LNG industry.
Eby needs to put a lot of space between his party and the federal NDP. And he needs to do that before the next election, which could come as early as this fall or more likely next spring.
Keith Baldrey is Global BC’s legislature bureau chief.
Keith.Baldrey@globalnews.ca
