Zussman's stone ends up nowhere near the proposed target, Eby stopping it with his right foot.
“Good sweeping,” Zussman says.
The question now is whether Eby's political calculations have similarly slid awry, as he faces a largely unknown opponent in interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson, whose sudden elevation has sent the election's stones ricocheting in unexpected directions. Eby called the snap Oct. 24 election just two days after Doerkson was installed.
When Eby first raised the possibility of a snap election in early September less than two years into his mandate, the Conservatives were undergoing self-immolation, suffering near-daily defections under the divisive reign of Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
But on Sept. 20, Findlay resigned.
It would go down as a hinge date in B.C. politics
That evening, NDP legislators met with campaign chair Cheryl Oates to discuss election plans in light of Findlay's exit. Later the same night, the Conservatives' board appointed Doerkson as interim leader, and he immediately set about persuading former Conservatives back to the party's caucus, including seven out of eight who had announced they were joining CentreBC days earlier.
With Findlay gone and the Conservatives coalescing, Eby nevertheless went ahead with the election call on Sept. 22. The question is why.
"The decision to go to an election was a serious one, and so is the moment, we face as a province," Eby said in an interview, betraying no hint of regret with the NDP lagging the Conservatives in recent polls.
"The decisive piece was for me whether or not we had a legislature to work, whether or not people had representatives that were actually going to stand up for what the priorities in the community were."
New Democrats held a one-seat majority with 47 seats at dissolution.
Former B.C. Liberal Mike de Jong, who served more than 30 years in the legislature, would have advised against an early election.
The NDP barely beat a "ragtag group" of Conservatives in 2024, he said, and there was a risk of being seen as manipulating the electoral process "purely for self-advantage" at a time when the Official Opposition was without a permanent leader, he said.
De Jong also pointed out the risk that an election call could unite the free-enterprise coalition.
He said Eby was "supremely confident in his own political instincts and his own political instincts, and his own political judgment."
"If it doesn’t turn out, it will be regarded as the biggest political blunder in this country, never mind this province, and that will be, for better or worse, within the NDP in particular, his legacy,” he said.
Eby’s biography shows no aversion to risk.
In 2011, when then premier Christy Clark needed a seat in the legislature after becoming leader of the B.C. Liberals, then 33-year-old Eby agreed to run and came within 564 votes of beating her.
Two years later, he reversed the result and cemented his reputation as a political giant-killer, beating Clark in a rematch.
Eby considered a leadership run after the NDP lost the 2013 provincial election. But he ruled himself out when he announced the pregnancy of wife his, Cailey Lynch, a doctor, with their first child, Ezra. They now have three children, with the addition of daughters Iva and Gwendolyn.
B.C. Premier David Eby, back, and outgoing premier John Horgan embrace during a swearing in ceremony where Eby became the province's 37th premier at the Musqueam Nation, in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Eby’s political responsibilities grew after the NDP regained power in 2017 under John Horgan, the late premier who routinely tapped him to handle difficult files, from housing to the remaking of auto insurer ICBC.
When Horgan stepped down, Eby became premier in 2022, in an uncontested race after activist Anjali Appadurai was disqualified.
Former federal NDP MP Megan Leslie, who attended the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University with Eby, says his upbringing in a suburban cul-de-sac home shaped him.
Eby was born in Kitchener, Ont., in 1976, the eldest of four children, whose father was a personal injury lawyer, and whose mother was a high school principal.
She said Eby’s father encouraged neighbours to create and maintain a communal space. “It’s incredibly special because the neighbourhood has self-organized to make sure that there are no fences in their backyards."
As a teenager, Eby protested the treatment of elephants when the circus came to town, and he is a vegetarian.
Eby and Leslie's friendship dates back to orientation at law school during a bus trip to Peggy’s Cove. "I sat beside this really tall guy," she said. Eby is six-foot-seven.
Leslie shared her doubts about going to law school. “He said, 'well, I feel the same way. So, I bet there are other people who feel like this too. So, why don’t we start an activist club?’”
Leslie said this was the origin of the Social Activist Law Student Association.
"Dave challenged us," she said.
But she said Eby also had fun while at law school. He expanded Leslie's musical tastes, downloading music through Napster, and they performed karaoke together — Eby was "really good" at Whitney Houston’s "Greatest Love of All," and they also performed the B-52’s "Love Shack" as a duet, involving a feather boa.
"Guilty as charged," Eby said of Leslie's account.
Eby also sang and played guitar for Vancouver-based bands including Ladner and World of Science. He had permanently moved to the city in the early 2000s.
After graduation, Eby articled for the federal Department of Justice in Vancouver, before joining Pivot Legal Society in 2005, located in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to offer legal support to one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.
In 2008, he joined the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association as executive director. Former president Robert Holmes said Eby’s impact was immediate.
"He managed to get the office humming and everybody working on their specific projects," he said. "Plus, he was in the news an awful lot."
This energy differentiated Eby. "He had drive and energy directed to the job at hand, and he pursued that," said Holmes
But Clark thinks Eby "has a real execution problem.”
"I don’t think I have ever seen a politician, who is so bad at delivering results," she said.
Clark and De Jong point to B.C.'s projected deficit of almost $14 billion — Eby inherited a surplus from Horgan. De Jong said Eby’s handling of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act has been "clumsy" at best.
"I think he wishes to contribute positively to the province," de Jong said. "I don't agree with many of the pathways he has take, but I have never questioned his motivation."
Clark warned against counting Eby out.
"I always thought of David Eby as a very serious opponent in the fight," Clark said. "I have never thought of him as a serious person when it comes to governing, but when it comes to elections, he’s a very tough opponent."
Eby himself said the race is continually shifting. He said he would wait to see what election day brings, when asked if he would stay on as leader of the NDP after a loss.
"If this province is anything, it is a province that pays attention and makes important decisions in key moments," he said.
"I have faith in the voters of B.C. to set us on the right track, and that is why I’m putting the question in front of them."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2026.
By Wolfgang Depner | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Lowan credits those experiences with inspiring a "deep reverence" for the natural world, and activating her political convictions.
"As a young person, I saw how deeply these ecosystems are under threat," she said in an interview.
Ever since, Lowan said she has been on a mission to challenge what she described as "the politicians and the corporate forces that are threatening our democracy and a livable future on this planet" and put power in the hands of communities.
Lowan played a key role in a student-led campaign that pressured the University of Victoria into directing its investments away from fossil fuels, before climate advocacy with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Climate Action Network Canada.
She won the Greens' leadership contest last year, succeeding Sonia Furstenau.
Lowan said she recognizes why climate action isn't top of mind for many voters.
"People have a really hard time thinking about climate when they don't have their basic needs met, and so I want to do both," she said.
"I want to take climate action and deliver that affordable life for regular people with, you know, a guarantee on good, green jobs, with universal child care and social housing."
Lauren Latour was Lowan's manager while she worked at Climate Action Network Canada between 2023 and 2025, co-ordinating efforts among non-profit and Indigenous groups while pushing for phasing out the extraction of fossil fuels.
Latour said Lowan has a "positive magnetism" that served her well in her bridge-building role with the network, along with her knowledge of climate policy in Canada and experience with organizing at the community level.
"She's incredibly audacious. She's not afraid to be bold in her campaign ideas and in her dreams and aspirations for her (work)," Latour said.
Outgoing Green legislator Rob Botterell, too, said Lowan has a clear vision for bringing young people into politics and pushing for "bold, courageous change" to tackle climate change, affordability and health-care challenges.
"Here is the leader of the future," Botterell said of his first impression of Lowan.
Botterell had always intended to serve one term after winning in Saanich North and the Islands in 2024, becoming one half of a two-member Green caucus along with Jeremy Valeriote, who is seeking re-election in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
The retired lawyer said he "would have loved to carry on for the next couple of years" in the legislature and directed his ire at NDP Leader David Eby for "calling a completely unnecessary election" with two years left in the government's term.
But Botterell said he was "thrilled" Lowan is running in Saanich North, where he fondly recalled knocking on doors alongside her and "watching constituents' eyes light up when they recognize her and just seeing how well they connect."
Botterell said Lowan is a leader beyond her years, and "somebody that you can trust."
Lowan's campaign in Saanich North is a family affair, with her grandmother — who previously ran a children's book shore in Sidney, B.C. — dropping off signage materials at her office shortly before she spoke to The Canadian Press.
Lowan said her grandparents worked blue-collar jobs and opened a small business, enough to buy a home and provide generational wealth for the family.
"That is just not the reality for my generation," she said.
"I've spent my whole adult life watching establishment parties manage decline as the lives of young and working people get harder."
B.C. Green Leader Emily Lowan following a media availability in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Light
Lowan said people have "lost trust in a political class" across B.C.'s major parties, whose politicians have "bought in and sold out" to corporate interests.
But the Greens offer a different vision, she said, one that centres on young people, workers, renters and "everyone else who is being crushed by the status quo in B.C."
Lowan said the province has a revenue problem, allowing major corporations to walk away with billions of dollars in what she described as "corporate welfare."
She said the Greens' platform will outline how to find the money required to fund affordable housing, child care and health care, including taxing the ultra-wealthy, while building up the economy to be more independent and resilient to shocks.
"We need leadership that isn't corrupted by the system," Lowan said. "We need young leaders with bold ideas and real hope to bring back half the population who has stopped voting, who has given up and tuned out."
Lowan has said the two Greens had made a difference in the legislature and the snap election offered a path to growing and holding the balance of power.
"We can hold the government to account and get real results to make our province safer, healthier and more democratic," she told a campaign event last month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2026.
By Brenna Owen | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.