Geoff Russ: David Eby ditches nationalism for the hammer and sickle

In British Columbia, it appears that New Democrat Premier David Eby has found another figure to impersonate after his Mark Carney impression flopped.

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Now, Eby is auditioning for another four years as premier by pretending to be a hybrid of former NDP premier Glen Clark and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It is unfortunate that the costumes don’t fit, and not only because the premier is built like a giraffe.

As part of his Clark-Mamdani act, Eby is playing the part of a class warrior who will relentlessly take the fight to big grocery and big oil. His NDP government is promising a steep tax hike on incomes above $1 million, and price controls on essential groceries and fuel. These are the campaign’s early days. He had already pledged an extra tax on newly built condos that remain unsold and empty for a year.

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All of this could have been done had the premier not called a snap election. He still had a majority in the legislature, and the small Green party caucus would likely back his hard-left promises.

The reason this class-warrior charade is occurring now is that the NDP campaign has been in a state of emergency. When Eby tried to capitalize on a divided and bickering B.C. Conservative opposition under Kerry-Lynne Findlay, he was going to portray Findlay as a surrogate for President Donald Trump. It had not helped that Findlay had filled her office with operators from Alberta’s separatist, so-called  “Republican Party.”

“Build BC Strong” was to be the NDP’s campaign slogan, a copy-and-paste edit of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2025 “Canada Strong” campaign slogan. So blatant was the imitation that the recycling bin could have billed for expenses.

In any case, the rapid removal and replacement of Findlay with Lorne Doerkson transformed the snap election from a wipeout into a horse race. According to polls, the Conservatives are either ahead of or even with the NDP, running on a big-tent, mainstream conservative platform that focuses on pocketbook issues and other salient matters, such as strengthened firefighting capabilities.

It was a spectacular turnaround in which the opportunistic Eby found himself ambushed by his own snap election.

Unlike Carney, who successfully marketed himself as a real change from Justin Trudeau, Eby cannot pretend to be anyone other than himself.

In an effort to pull even with the Conservatives, Eby has ditched the flag and raised the hammer and sickle, and it may yet work. At its heart, B.C. has been a populist province since long before Donald Trump turned “populism” into a loaded term.

Thirty years ago, another NDP premier made a surprise comeback to rescue his troubled government during an election. Glen Clark won a shocking majority for a beleaguered NDP government with a genuine labour-populist campaign, pledging household relief and specifically attacking the wealthy and the corporate sector. It was an energetic, feisty campaign that hinged on splitting the non-left vote, which eerily echoes today in One B.C. and Centre B.C., two minor parties that broke away from the B.C. Conservative coalition.

However, Clark had the background to run as a class warrior. A former ironworker and union organizer, he was a credible voice for blue-collar families and labour.

There is a huge gulf between championing working people and complaining about the rich when it suits the moment.

Here is an issue that disproportionately affects young families and lower-income people: public safety. House cleaners have to pass through drug-riddled parts of Vancouver on their way to and from work, as do bus drivers. Public school children in Metro Vancouver have had to navigate needles and drug paraphernalia.

The Eby government’s solution was more drugs and decriminalized “take-home” safe supply. It rendered addicts into free-range chickens and labelled the approach humane and “justice.” He only reneged on those policies when they became unpopular, not because he ever thought they were a mistake. Everything except mass compulsory treatment has been on the table, while anything that might require a firm, ambitious approach to ending the addictions crisis in Vancouver has remained off it.

More young people are leaving B.C. than at any point in living memory. Affordability has not been restored, and gas prices are still among the highest in Canada. Is Eby’s government powerless, or does it think it is politically expedient to only try to fix economic downturns during elections?

One thing should be clear: there is nothing brave or impressive about ranting at a supermarket. Far more courageous would be for Eby to look in the mirror and admit his failures. It is the NDP that has been at the wheel since 2017. B.C.’s decline rests first and foremost on its shoulders, not those of the wealthy, grocery chains or any other scapegoat Eby can find.

The inspiration is obvious. In the West, no man has elevated the left more than Zohran Mamdani. Although he appears far more moderate and gentle as New York’s mayor, Mamdani ran as a frothing millennial class warrior, promoting taxes on luxury second homes, government-run grocery stores and more. Eby has even recently attempted to imitate the popular New York show “Subway Takes” with his own “Bus Takes” during the election. It’s pathetic.

Believe it or not, Glen Clark showed some contrition for his 1996 campaign tactic of naming individual business leaders as tax targets. Eby has attacked Jim Pattison, one of the richest men in B.C. and a dedicated philanthropist who has fed more mouths and donated more to hospitals and charities than Eby could ever hope to.

The linchpin of Eby’s campaign is treating his government like a passive bystander. He wants credit for attacking the financially powerful while pretending that, by comparison, he has no power. Eby has been premier for years in an NDP government that is almost a decade old. Revenue and authority have been within its purview, so why does he act only now as though he needs permission to use them?

Eby’s impersonations are embarrassing. He wants the reassuring aura and glamour of Mark Carney, combined with Glen Clark’s working-class bona fides and Mamdani’s star power.

The last person David Eby wants to run as is David Eby, and for good reason.

National Post

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