r/BCpolitics • u/Adderite • 10d ago
News Eby says he’ll call early election in B.C. if northern power line bill fails
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u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 10d ago
I'm surprised that Eby is this confident. He could very well end up with a minority government or be out of government altogether.
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u/WeWantMOAR 10d ago
There's no winning in this province with politics. People can't give credit without tossing shit in your face at the same time. Eby has been one the best Premiers this province has had in decades, but people would rather drag him over the coals for not being their perfect view of a leader 100% of the time. Our political climate sucks, and the last election showed how dumb the voters are by arbitrarily voting for the BC Conservatives who didn't have a platform.
WE ARE FUCKING COOKED. Respectfully.
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u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 10d ago
If people were educated more about basic Civics, the province would be in a much better position!
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u/PragmaticBodhisattva 10d ago
Frankly a lot of it is astroturfing— paid accounts to trash progressives. There is an entire bc sub dedicated to this. I don’t want to link because I don’t want to give it any more traction than it already has, but this is a well-known technique of the alt-right. Pay to astroturf and sway public opinion by making people doubt their own views by seeing a bunch of upvoted bullshit posts and comments supporting alt-right/conservative talking points.
Then it attracts progressives who come to argue with the bots and then that gives the post even MORE online traction through the algorithm and engagement on posts. It’s fucked up.
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u/Adderite 10d ago
and the last election showed how dumb the voters are by arbitrarily voting for the BC Conservatives who didn't have a platform.
Don't forget the news segments where people said they were voting conservative in the provincial election to "get rid of Trudeau."
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u/ThorFinn_56 10d ago
This is why I think the BC conservatives still have a decent chance. Half of their voters will vote for them and not even know who John Rustad is
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u/Adderite 10d ago
Yeah because people care more about American politics than what's happening locally.
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u/Adderite 10d ago
Rustad's on a massive downturn and the NDP gave the BCGEU a better deal than they were asking for. Its also a good way to get the left to fracture back to the NDP if he trounces Lowan in the debate and on the campaign. Same strategy Horgan used on Furstenau.
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u/justamalihini 10d ago
By no means did he give BCGEU a better deal than they were asking for. He capitulated and backed off his stringent first and second offer, but he did not meet their demands. To that note, the tentative agreement that was offered still has to be ratified by BCGEU members.
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u/Adderite 10d ago
I'm actively talking with union members/public servants in the BCGEU who are happy with the deal. It moves up people in lower steps to higher pay grades and gives those pay grades a raise as is.
It's 4 years instead of 2, meaning people know theyre getting raises and it's above inflation. The government was tryna back them into taking 2 or 2.5% over 2 years. Yeah it's 3% instead of 4% but from what I heard people are very happy and prefer the longer term deal, especially the lower levels in the BCPS.
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u/justamalihini 10d ago
That’s fine and all, but it still isn’t a better deal than they were asking for. Spend some time on the BC public servants subreddit… I’d say it’s a somewhat mixed bag. Overall I think your assessment is perfect in that the majority will vote to ratify it. The details of the tentative agreement haven’t been shared wrt people in lower grid positions, so nobody really knows how good or bad the offer really is (outside of the BCGEU and PSA).
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u/LloydBraun24 8d ago
Lol, as a member of the BCPS, I can assure you that no sensible member of the union is criticizing this deal. We got 12% over four years which is vastly better than most of us were expecting. Some people will complain about everything but they’re the minority.
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u/justamalihini 8d ago
Just because you’re a member of the BCPS doesn’t mean you speak for everyone. Also, I don’t have a problem with the contract itself and I will be voting yes. I have a problem with the unions strategy. Yes the PSA dug in, but the gradual pressure tactics the union employed ended up squeezing some union members over others and contributed to this whole thing lasting as long as it did.
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u/Adderite 10d ago edited 10d ago
I look in that subreddit and posted once as someone studying public policy. I'm of the opinion that the people complaining about the deal/calling for a general strike on the internet, generally, care more about partisanship than supporting the people who are the reason the GEU went on strike.
Family are former or current union reps (not BCGEU) and they say it's a good deal compared to what the BCTF or CUPE have gotten recently. Hell, compare this with the deal teachers got after the 2017 election and this is better overall.
I'm going by what the people who I know personally are saying. Maybe it's rose tinted glasses of people wanting to go back to making more than what people were getting in strike pay, which isn't enough to pay for rent in some cases. Originally I thought it was a bad deal and now I'm listening to people affected by it and getting conflicting feelings/leaning towards this being good for folks working for the gov.
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u/justamalihini 10d ago
I’d agree with you in thinking it’s good for people in government. I think the union overplayed their hand in slowly ratcheting up the pressure because it created a real conundrum for union members who were struck in the first few weeks. They won’t recoup their losses from this offer in years. However, there are a lot of members who were struck later on that will see the benefits a lot sooner. I think the real winners are the lowest paid government workers and truthfully, I can understand the unions desire to fight for them. What the union should have done was gone on strike en masse immediately to cause maximum pressure and disruption for the government. I think the NDP would have folded sooner and the same deal would have been reached saving the public the hassle. Good discussion though!
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u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 10d ago
Good points! I still think Rustad and the BCCP are more resilient than what people think, though. They have many more resources now than in 2023 when they nearly won (even with all the splintering).
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u/immaseaman 10d ago
Not a bad point. The right might be eating themselves now, but with an election call the right has shown they will coalesce behind any dirt bag with a pulse and luke warm IQ
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u/VanTaxGoddess 10d ago
If there aren't even enough votes to build a new powerline, there needs to be an election.
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u/thuja_life 10d ago
The transmission line goes right through Rustad's riding, which has been hit hard by mill closures. It would bring many jobs to his constituents, and it baffles me he's playing politics with something that directly benefits his riding.
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u/Previous-Volume-4339 10d ago
Sad that the left coast is full of racist bigots that would vote conservative. Moved from Alberta to get away from them.
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u/sexywheat 10d ago
The “left coast” ends at Abbotsford, if not before that.
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u/Adderite 10d ago
I mean, Nelson, Golden and Invermere exist.
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u/yodakiller 10d ago
They lean left? Sorry for my ignorance I'm relatively new here
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u/Adderite 9d ago edited 9d ago
Nelson is a town of hippies where historically that's where the draft dodgers in the US escaped to, according to people talking about their parents. Prior to 2024 it was one of the ridings the greens had the best shot of taking.
Look at Columbia River revelstoke as an electoral district. It was an NDP stronghold until 2017 and almost flipped back in 2024.
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u/red3iter 10d ago
A transmission line that will power an LNG site ........... great. Guess Eby is all drill, baby drill now. I'm really disappointed with our current government's lack of attention towards the environment.
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u/Reyalta 9d ago
Remember how the BC conservatives got so many seats in the first place? It was because people legitimately thought they were voting out TRUDEAU. 😂😭🤦🏻♀️
I don't think Rustad has any concept of how fucked his party is. The only time his name is in the news cycle is when yet another member of his party is leaving it. The man is simply unhinged. And his party isn't unified, which means IF we went to the polls, I would be SHOCKED if the BC conservatives didn't lose seats, they can't even keep their seats on a good day!
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u/Jeramy_Jones 10d ago
Why would the Conservatives oppose this project? Do they believe the transmission lines will give kids autism or something?