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VICTORIA — British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby is appealing to Green voters as the snap election slated for Oct. 24 enters its final week, but Green Party Leader Emily Lowan says he is trying to scare voters into choosing him.
Eby said Green voters should think carefully about their choices, as they prepare to cast their ballots.
While he respects Lowan, she won’t be premier, and votes for her party could end up electing a Conservative government, he said.
“The message to Green voters is very straightforward,” he said. “I have a great deal of respect for their leader, and she’s not going to be the premier next week. The damage that a Conservative government would do would last for generations, and some of it would be impossible to undo.”
Lowan pushed back against Eby’s appeal in a statement.
“David Eby called this snap election two years early,” she said. “Now, he is trying to scare British Columbians into voting for him.”
Eby said the Green vote helped elect Conservatives ahead of New Democrats in 11 ridings during the last election, including the riding of North Island, where he was speaking at an unrelated campaign announcement in Campbell River, B.C. on Sunday.
He said neither his party nor himself have been perfect, and a lot of people are frustrated about having an election at this moment.
“You may still be frustrated, but I think we can all agree that this election is about more than election timing,” he said, adding that the election is about the future of the province, and not the small differences between New Democrats and Greens, who share a common vision in many areas.
He said Conservatives offer “stark differences” around private health-care, cutting services, the tolerance of hate and division, and trade relations with the United States.
Both Greens and New Democrats have a shared vision that includes a strong public health-care system and protecting the environment, he said.
“So, I’m asking Green voters to think very carefully about the kind of province that we all want, because when we all work together as voters who share that vision, we win.”
Lowan denied the differences between New Democrats and Greens are small.
“Tell that to the families waiting on the $10-a-day child care he froze, the seniors waiting on the seven long-term care homes he delayed, and the renters still waiting for housing they can afford,” she said.
Lowan said voters aren’t asking for a perfect premier or government.
“They are asking for a government that keeps its word, makes life affordable, and makes sure care is there when they need it,” she said.
Lowan said Saturday’s election of Green Pete Fry as Vancouver’s new mayor showed that British Columbians are ready for Green leadership. “British Columbians can send that same Green message across the province on election day,” she said.
Eby’s appeal to Green voters echoed a call he made two years ago when his party ended up coming away from the 2024 election with the slimmest of majorities.
This year’s appeal comes amid opinion polls that show his party trailing. When asked whether his appeal to Green voters was an acknowledgment that his party was behind, Eby said the only poll that matters happens on election day.
The Conservatives said in a statement that Eby called the election because he saw an opportunity for himself.
“What he handed British Columbians is an opportunity for change,” it said. “Three weeks later, he is begging other parties’ voters to save him from his own record. That is what desperation looks like.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
