Ex-minister Bailey calls B.C. election drubbing a ‘harsh judgment’ of inauthentic Eby

“I look at (the election) through the lens of authenticity, and I don’t think Eby came across as authentic,” she said Thursday.

Eby stepped down as NDP leader on election night after the scale of the Conservative victory became clear, having secured a two-thirds majority with 64 seats, while the NDP ranks were decimated from 47 to 27.

It ended nine years of NDP rule, with Eby at the helm since 2022.

Bailey singled out two moments as emblematic of Eby’s authenticity problem — his Sept. 22 announcement of the election outside Government House, and a pre-election appearance where he wore a red-and-black checked jacket and the audience was warmed up by a parody rapper who mocked U.S. President Donald Trump.

She called the election announcement where Eby justified the snap vote by citing the threat posed by Trump “perhaps the weakest presser I’ve ever seen the premier give.”

“It was kind of clear from that very first presser that Eby’s explanation of why to go now wasn’t resonating, even with him,” she said.

Bailey said Eby had “many redeeming qualities,” but the “lumber-jacket-at-the-border version of David Eby, it doesn’t work.”

“Going down to the border and wearing that coat, that’s not who David Eby is and people could tell. So it’s less a criticism of him as a human than what he specifically did during this election run, not having resonated with the public, in my opinion.”

She said Eby used explanations to justify the election that he believed would poll well, rather than what he knew to be true.

She described the election call as “quite defensible” because there was “a real sense of instability” around the government with its one-seat majority, which was hurting its ability to respond to U.S. tariffs.

Bailey said Eby was struggling to “tap dance” to keep the party together at a time when everyone in the caucus effectively had a policy veto.

But Eby’s explanation to the public that he needed to “build a firebreak” against Trump-style politics coming to British Columbia “didn’t work at all” once Doerkson became the Conservatives’ interim leader.

The day that Eby called the vote, Doerkson called Trump an “absolute bully” and said Canada would never be the 51st state.

“I think it was strategically brilliant to put Lorne Doerkson as the candidate,” Bailey said of the Conservatives’ choice after the resignation of Kerry-Lynne Findlay two days before the election call.

Bailey also said the decision to go to the polls was made at an NDP caucus meeting held on Sunday, Sept. 20, even though the Conservatives had not yet announced their interim leader.

The former minister said she did not take part in the meeting as she was “quite sick” but the decision was shared with her later.

Bailey also said her cancer treatment “was fully successful.”

“They detected it very early. I had a surgery and the surgery got all the cancer and I’ve just been recovering from surgery. I haven’t had to have chemotherapy, I haven’t had to have radiation,” she said.

“And I would say as of last week, I feel fully back to normal. So I’ve been very, very lucky.”

While she is still a member of the NDP, “time will tell” if she remains in the party, which she said runs the risk of being in opposition for a very long time if it moves too far to the left.

“I struggle with where I live politically,” she said.

“I want to be a member of a party that is fiscally responsible, and has strong social goals,” she said. “That is the party I want and I think that is the party that I think most British Columbians want and often struggle to find.”

Jennifer Whiteside has been named as the BC NDP’s interim leader.

When Bailey was asked about the odds of her throwing her hat in the ring as leader, she said “absolutely none.”

“You couldn’t make me,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Ex-minister Bailey calls B.C. election drubbing a ‘harsh judgment’ of inauthentic Eby

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