Why has B.C.’s snap election caught both main parties unprepared?

When a snap election is called, at least one side would normally be prepared.

But that hasn’t been the case in British Columbia, resulting in a provincial election campaign like no other, political watchers say.

The campaign has seen interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson going without media availabilities on several days, including on Tuesday and Wednesday in the home stretch, ahead of Saturday’s final voting day.

The NDP has meanwhile pivoted its messaging from focusing on U.S. President Donald Trump, to affordability, to the need for a stable majority.

And campaigning has also been notably muted with relatively few large-scale rallies, although both major parties have events scheduled this week.

Even the NDP campaign bus, which was adorned with Eby’s smiling face in 2024, is an anonymous-looking coach, devoid of slogans.

Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said he had noticed the “lack of preparation.”

“This is especially surprising since the NDP called this election. You would think, if they were going to call a snap election, that they at least would be prepared, and that they would obviously catch the Conservatives off guard,” said Telford.

“This was an election of their making, and they are not entirely ready for it,” he added.

Telford said the NDP had initially been anticipating Eby running against Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a divisive and unpopular leader of the Conservatoves. But Findlay resigned and was replaced by Doerkson.

Eby called the snap election anyway.

Telford said he would have advised the NDP not to go through with it.

“They should have called the election off, but evidently things were too late, or they had built up too much momentum and couldn’t stop themselves.” said Telford.

Angelo Isidorou, who is chief strategist for the Conservatives, said snap elections can be messy compared with fixed-date polls.

“In this case, this is what makes this very unique … not only is it a snap election, but it was an election that took place at the same time as municipal elections, which never happens. So, it was all very chaotic,” said Isidorou of the Oct. 17 municipal polls across B.C.

He said the “biggest difference” between a snap election and a fixed-date election is the “predictability.”

“It’s difficult being in Opposition because you don’t know when the election is going to come, and when an election is called, you only have maybe over a week to recruit candidates and get them on the ballot because there’s a deadline. When there’s a fixed election, you can predict all of this,” said Isidorou.

“In this case, it wasn’t, and I think what surprised me the most is really how not prepared the NDP was,” said Isidorou, adding that otherwise, the NDP would have fielded a full slate of 93 candidates in every riding.

Elections BC said the NPD was one short of a full slate, after failing to nominate a representative in Peace River North.

But vetting may have suffered in the rush to field candidates.

While the Conservatives managed to fill their 93-riding slate, two candidates have since been disavowed by the party.

Jordan McIntosh, the 18-year-old former Conservative candidate for Vancouver-Strathcona, was dumped last Thursday over online posts that included saying Hitler killed “lots of Jews” not because he “hated them specifically” but because there were so many of them.

Another candidate, Joachim Agou, was ejected from the party earlier this month for online comments saying the driver of a car that rammed a pro-Palestinian protest group in Switzerland should have “reversed too.”

Political scientist Michael Prince said the election has “elements of some really unusual features.”

He said it was puzzling to see parties still fall into the trap of recruiting inappropriate candidates.

“They haven’t really thoroughly vetted their history of social media posts,” said Prince, the Lansdowne professor emeritus of social policy at the University of Victoria.

“We’ve seen, particularly on the Conservative side, candidates that have been removed by the leader or have stepped down very quickly,” he said. “So, that’s kind of the new unusual, but it’s been something that’s unfortunately pretty typical over the last several elections.”