Eby says NDP ‘happy’ to work with other parties in tight B.C. legislature

British Columbia Premier David Eby has scheduled a meeting with the B.C. Greens as he prepares to form government, a day after the NDP won the barest of majorities in a legislature where every vote will count.

His party has also reached out to members of the future opposition caucus, according to B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad, who said his members were asked about becoming Speaker.

Such a move would effectively widen the NDP majority to two, and Rustad rebuffed the idea.

Eby’s NDP finally won the election on Monday, nine days after election day, when a count of absentee votes lifted the party to 47 seats, while the Conservatives held 44 ridings and the Greens had two.

Eby told reporters Tuesday that he was open to working with Conservatives — so long as they respect the “bright line” of rejecting hate, division and conspiracy.

“Our goal is to work with any MLA who wants to make sure that this place works for British Columbians on those priorities that I laid out — cost of living, housing, health care, what matters to British Columbians,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to have those conversations with (the Greens) and the invitation is open to all MLAs. If you’re committed to these things, as well as committed to ensuring that this province remains a place welcoming to everybody, where we fight racism and hatred, then I’m happy to work with you.”

He also had said he wasn’t ruling out a Speaker from the Conservatives or the Greens, whose leader, Sonia Furstenau, said Monday that all parties would have to work together for the legislature to function effectively.

At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Rustad said the NDP had been “calling around” looking for a Conservative to be Speaker.

“It’s not something that certainly I’m considering supporting at this stage,” he said.

“If David Eby wanted to call me and say that he wants to move forward with significant parts of our agenda, maybe there’s something that we could be talking about, but at this stage, I would not be looking at offering one of our members to be Speaker.”

The month-long campaign ahead of the Oct. 19 vote saw Rustad brand Eby a serial liar who had worsened public safety and the toxic drugs crisis, while Eby decried what he said were conspiracy theories and “criminal hate speech” by Rustad’s candidates.

On Saturday, Eby said election night comments by Conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov, calling Indigenous people “savages,” had reached a “new level of gross.”

Rustad said Tuesday that Sapozhnikov, who lost in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, “will not be a candidate for this party” in a future election.

Eby said he planned to name his cabinet members and have a sitting this fall so a Speaker can be elected, but he doesn’t plan to pass any legislation.

There are still two judicial recounts coming next month because of their close results. The Conservatives won Kelowna Centre by 38 votes, while the NDP won Surrey-Guildford by 27 votes.

Eby said he heard the message from voters after such a tight election that they want the NDP to “do better” on issues, including public safety and affordability “but also recognize that we’re going to need to work across the aisle on different initiatives to make sure we’re responding to the message.”

Rustad said on election night his party would do what it could to take down the NDP government and return to the polls as soon as possible, and on Tuesday said he would “have no choice” but to try to bring the government down if it was on the wrong path.

But Eby said he didn’t think British Columbians wanted that.

“The last thing I think British Columbians want is for us to turn this into a chance to go back to another election.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement Tuesday congratulating Eby on his win.

“I look forward to continuing to work with Premier Eby to deliver on the issues that matter most to British Columbians and all Canadians,” Trudeau said

A statement from the B.C. legislature posted on social media said 49 women were set to serve in the 43rd Parliament, marking the first time a Canadian provincial legislature has had more women than men in the chamber.

The B.C. Conservatives emerged from obscurity in the 18 months before election day.

In the 2020 election, they won two per cent of the vote and elected no MLAs. Now they will have 44 MLAs, after taking more than 43 per cent of the vote.

Rustad said he was proud.

“Building it up to the place where we just fell short of forming government, you know, I’m pretty proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

Dirk Meissner and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press