British Columbians will vote in the general election a year early.
By: Rob Shaw
VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan found his character under attack moments after calling a snap election Monday, with opponents and former allies questioning how voters can trust a leader who reneged on written agreement with the B.C. Greens to not call an early election.
Horgan announced the election campaign in his suburban Langford riding, flanked by a backyard lacrosse net and a cul-de-sac of ordinary homes that he said represented voters who want to go to the polls early to secure him a four-year mandate. “I want to get the election behind us, not for myself but for the people of B.C. because they can’t afford to have partisan hectoring and uncertainty about whether bills will pass or not, which is what we’ve experienced over the past 3½ years,” said Horgan, who added that a proper economic recovery plan requires a new full term in office.
“I believe stability will come by asking the people of British Columbia where they want to go and who they want to lead them.”
British Columbians will vote Oct. 24, with advance voting starting Oct. 15, according to Elections B.C. The snap vote appears to be a gamble by Horgan that his public popularity will overcome any voter blowback caused by plunging the province into electoral uncertainty during record-high COVID-19 cases. B.C. recorded 366 new cases over the weekend.
“I’ve struggled mightily with this decision and it did not come easily to me,” said Horgan. “This pandemic will be with us for a year or more and that’s why I believe we need to have an election now.”
His decision violated the written power-sharing agreement he signed with the B.C. Greens in 2017, in which he promised to wait until the next scheduled election in Oct. 16, 2021. He also disregarded B.C.’s fixed election date law, though there is no penalty for doing so.
“He has to recognize that he cannot lay blame for this election on anybody except for himself,” said B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau. “There’s no reason in any world to call an unnecessary election during a global pandemic. This is on John Horgan
and on John Horgan alone.”
New Democrats hope a snap vote will turn the party’s 41-seat minority government into a majority of at least 44 seats, shaking off the need for any further Green co-operation and, perhaps, eliminating their former allies entirely by targeting the three Vancouver Island seats last won by the Greens.
Furstenau said she met with Horgan Friday to assure him the Greens would continue to provide the votes necessary for the NDP to pass matters of confidence, as the two parties have done consistently since 2017. But Horgan said he was upset the Greens tried to amend and block some of his bills this spring, and he no longer felt bound by the deal. Source: vancouversun.com
Saturday, April 18, 2026
