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British Columbians vote in early election, with David Eby's job on the line
British Columbians voting today in early election
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
British Columbians go to the polls today in an early election called by NDP Leader David Eby in the biggest gamble of his political life.
The five-week campaign saw the major parties fight over issues from health care to housing, the province's record deficit and the increasing cost of living.
Polls open at 8.a.m. and close at 8 p.m. in the snap election that Eby called two years early, initially saying he needed a new mandate to tackle challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
But Eby said Friday the election was needed to end the frustrations of a "stalled out" legislature where the NDP held a one-seat majority, and he regretted not making that clearer.
Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson secured his party's top job two days before the election call in September, and managed to woo back legislators who quit the party under the divisive leadership of Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
It's Green Party Leader Emily Lowan's first provincial election and Eby spent the closing days of the campaign urging her party's supporters to consider voting NDP to prevent splitting the vote.
The legislature at dissolution officially consisted of 47 New Democrats, 29 Conservatives, two Greens and 13 Independents, with two vacant seats.
But that does not take into account that most of the nominal Independents were Conservatives who returned to the party after Doerkson became interim leader — they may not all be reflected in the official numbers, but the Conservatives went into the election holding about 37 seats.
Elections BC has said votes cast on election day will be counted by hand, despite electronic tabulators being used for the first time in 2024. The agency cited the tight timelines in the snap election and the technical requirements to get the machines up and running.
Mail-in and absentee ballots won't be counted until about two weeks after election day, with Elections BC saying it needed time to ensure that only eligible voters vote, and only once.
More than 891,000 advance votes were cast, representing about 24 per cent of all registered voters.
The campaign saw the NDP propose a new tax bracket for those making more than $1 million to help fund health care, while pledging price caps on some basic groceries and to create a training program for qualified international medical graduates already living in B.C.
The Conservatives promised no tax increases and to raise B.C.’s basic personal income tax exemption from $13,216 to $32,000, resulting in a $1,000 tax cut for most individual workers.
Doerkson said his top priority was repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
The Greens promised to tax household wealth over $50 million, to open a community health centre in every riding, and to reform the province's oil and gas royalty framework.
Other parties contending for votes include CentreBC, led by former Conservative Elenore Sturko, and OneBC, whose interim leader Dallas Brodie is another former Conservative.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2026
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Calgary flood survivor to testify in Canada’s first youth-led federal climate trial
The 15 plaintiffs say Canada’s fossil fuel policies threaten their constitutional rights.
Sadie Vipond was 7 when her grandmother woke her in the middle of the night, and they fled their home. Outside, Calgary was in the midst of its largest flood in more than a century. They went to a friend’s place on higher ground as surging waters cut short the school year. At the city’s zoo, water rose high enough for a hippo to swim out of its enclosure — a memory that stays with her 13 years later.
Next week, she will testify in Canada’s first federal youth-led climate trial — a lawsuit she joined at 13. She’s one of 15 young Canadian plaintiffs in La Rose v. His Majesty the King, which will run for four weeks in Vancouver.
The plaintiffs from seven provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon were all between the ages of 10 and 19 when the case began. They are arguing that Canada is putting young people’s health, safety and futures at risk by supporting fossil fuel development while repeatedly missing its emissions targets. They want the court to require the government to develop and carry out a climate recovery plan that protects their constitutional rights.
“This was a way to share my voice, to influence our governments without having the ability to vote,” Vipond said.
The case is reaching the trial stage after seven years of legal motions and appeals, including federal efforts to have it dismissed. Many plaintiffs were barely teenagers when they joined and have grown into adulthood waiting for their day in court.
Now, they have more to lose. Some have taken outdoor jobs, where staying inside to escape wildfire smoke can mean going unpaid. East Coast plaintiffs, who had never experienced wildfire smoke when the case began, now encounter it regularly, said Andrea Rodgers, deputy director of US strategy at Our Children’s Trust, which supports the case.
One plaintiff has since become a mother and will testify during the trial’s first week. “Now, it’s not just about protecting her rights and her future,” Rodgers said. “It’s about ensuring that her son can grow up and thrive in a healthy environment.”
A generation coming of age in a changing climate
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke have limited Vipond’s ability to bike to school and exercise outdoors. Now a third-year environmental sciences student at the University of British Columbia, she said her studies have helped her recognize changes around her — from increasingly dangerous snow conditions to pine beetles destroying an entire hillside.
“A lot of people think that climate change is like a long, slow evolution of changes,” Vipond said. “However, we’re really seeing it from year to year at this point.”
Vipond’s experience reflects a broader reality for young people coming of age as climate change dictates how they imagine and plan their lives. A study published in 2023 found that nearly two in five Canadians aged 16 to 25 said climate change made them hesitant to have children.
That concern also shows up in their politics. In July, a poll found that one in four respondents aged 18 to 34 ranked climate change and the environment among their top three issues, compared with 16 per cent of those older than 55.
The climate risks extend across their lives. At 1.5 C of warming, over half of children born in 2020 would face unprecedented lifetime heatwave exposure, compared with 16 per cent of those born in 1960, a global study projected in 2025.
Rodgers has spent 15 years representing young people in US climate cases, including Juliana v. United States. Its 21 young plaintiffs spent nearly a decade arguing that federal energy policies violated their constitutional rights. The case never reached trial after an appeals court ruled that judges lacked the power to order and oversee the climate recovery plan the plaintiffs sought. She hopes Canada will deliver what those young Americans were denied.
The Canadian trial will also test how international law informs that duty. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice affirmed that governments must protect the climate system to safeguard human rights. Rodgers said the Canadian court could use that advisory opinion to help justify an order requiring climate action, and set an example for courts in other countries.
“Canada really has a choice,” Rodgers said. “Do they want to follow in the path of the United States or forge their own path, one that protects the rights of their own children?”
Vipond joined the lawsuit out of fear for her own future. As she heads to court next week, she said she now feels responsible for speaking for other children too young to vote and generations yet to be born.
People have asked whether she and the other plaintiffs would receive money if they win. She tells them they are seeking accountability rather than a payout.
“Hope is really hard to hold on to sometimes,” Vipond said. “But we’re all fighting to keep it.”
Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer.
Copyright 2026, Canada's National Observer. All rights reserved.
Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer.
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Calgary flood survivor to testify in Canada’s first youth-led federal climate trial
The 15 plaintiffs say Canada’s fossil fuel policies threaten their constitutional rights.
Sadie Vipond was 7 when her grandmother woke her in the middle of the night, and they fled their home. Outside, Calgary was in the midst of its largest flood in more than a century. They went to a friend’s place on higher ground as surging waters cut short the school year. At the city’s zoo, water rose high enough for a hippo to swim out of its enclosure — a memory that stays with her 13 years later.
Next week, she will testify in Canada’s first federal youth-led climate trial — a lawsuit she joined at 13. She’s one of 15 young Canadian plaintiffs in La Rose v. His Majesty the King, which will run for four weeks in Vancouver.
The plaintiffs from seven provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon were all between the ages of 10 and 19 when the case began. They are arguing that Canada is putting young people’s health, safety and futures at risk by supporting fossil fuel development while repeatedly missing its emissions targets. They want the court to require the government to develop and carry out a climate recovery plan that protects their constitutional rights.
“This was a way to share my voice, to influence our governments without having the ability to vote,” Vipond said.
The case is reaching the trial stage after seven years of legal motions and appeals, including federal efforts to have it dismissed. Many plaintiffs were barely teenagers when they joined and have grown into adulthood waiting for their day in court.
Now, they have more to lose. Some have taken outdoor jobs, where staying inside to escape wildfire smoke can mean going unpaid. East Coast plaintiffs, who had never experienced wildfire smoke when the case began, now encounter it regularly, said Andrea Rodgers, deputy director of US strategy at Our Children’s Trust, which supports the case.
One plaintiff has since become a mother and will testify during the trial’s first week. “Now, it’s not just about protecting her rights and her future,” Rodgers said. “It’s about ensuring that her son can grow up and thrive in a healthy environment.”
A generation coming of age in a changing climate
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke have limited Vipond’s ability to bike to school and exercise outdoors. Now a third-year environmental sciences student at the University of British Columbia, she said her studies have helped her recognize changes around her — from increasingly dangerous snow conditions to pine beetles destroying an entire hillside.
“A lot of people think that climate change is like a long, slow evolution of changes,” Vipond said. “However, we’re really seeing it from year to year at this point.”
Vipond’s experience reflects a broader reality for young people coming of age as climate change dictates how they imagine and plan their lives. A study published in 2023 found that nearly two in five Canadians aged 16 to 25 said climate change made them hesitant to have children.
That concern also shows up in their politics. In July, a poll found that one in four respondents aged 18 to 34 ranked climate change and the environment among their top three issues, compared with 16 per cent of those older than 55.
The climate risks extend across their lives. At 1.5 C of warming, over half of children born in 2020 would face unprecedented lifetime heatwave exposure, compared with 16 per cent of those born in 1960, a global study projected in 2025.
Rodgers has spent 15 years representing young people in US climate cases, including Juliana v. United States. Its 21 young plaintiffs spent nearly a decade arguing that federal energy policies violated their constitutional rights. The case never reached trial after an appeals court ruled that judges lacked the power to order and oversee the climate recovery plan the plaintiffs sought. She hopes Canada will deliver what those young Americans were denied.
The Canadian trial will also test how international law informs that duty. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice affirmed that governments must protect the climate system to safeguard human rights. Rodgers said the Canadian court could use that advisory opinion to help justify an order requiring climate action, and set an example for courts in other countries.
“Canada really has a choice,” Rodgers said. “Do they want to follow in the path of the United States or forge their own path, one that protects the rights of their own children?”
Vipond joined the lawsuit out of fear for her own future. As she heads to court next week, she said she now feels responsible for speaking for other children too young to vote and generations yet to be born.
People have asked whether she and the other plaintiffs would receive money if they win. She tells them they are seeking accountability rather than a payout.
“Hope is really hard to hold on to sometimes,” Vipond said. “But we’re all fighting to keep it.”
Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer.
Copyright 2026, Canada's National Observer. All rights reserved.
Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer.
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Des Québécois se procurent de l’iode en cas d'attaque nucléaire et des experts réagissent
La demande de comprimés d'iode serait à la hausse dans les pharmacies. 😮
Le 27 février 2022, Vladimir Poutine a déclaré la mise en état d'alerte des forces nucléaires, après des sanctions importantes vis-à-vis de la Russie aient été prises par l'OTAN. Il n'en fallait pas plus pour alarmer les pays occidentaux et plusieurs chef.fes d'État qui ont dénoncé les menaces du premier ministre Poutine. Inquiet.es par une attaque nucléaire potentielle, des Québécois.es se seraient procuré.es des comprimés d'iode en pharmacie afin de prévenir des risques de santé liés à la radioactivité.
Lorsque questionné.es par Narcity et d'après divers commentaires sur les réseaux sociaux, certain.es pharmacien.nes et/ou technicien.nes en laboratoire auraient effectivement eu vent de l'augmentation des demandes d'iodine au comptoir pharmaceutique.
On peut lire, sous une publication sur les réseaux sociaux concernant la forte demande d'iode en Europe que certaines personnes au pays cherchent aussi à s'en procurer.
« Il y a-tu une place où on peut s'en procurer à Montréal ? », demande une femme.
D'autres semblent avoir effectivement eu des questions ou des demandes à ce sujet : « C'est ça qu'elle doit avoir lu la madame d'hier. »
Une tendance réellement à la hausse
Interrogé par Narcity, l'Ordre des Pharmaciens du Québec (OPQ) a confirmé la tendance à la hausse des demandes de comprimé d'iode précisant, toutefois, qu'il n'était pas possible de quantifier celle-ci.
La prise d'iode à titre préventif serait inutile selon Paul Cérat, conseiller en relations publiques de l'OPQ : « [...] il n’y a aucune raison de prendre de l’Iodure de potassium à titre préventif. Ce produit ne serait à ingérer qu’en cas d’accident nucléaire, et selon certains paramètres. C'est aux autorités de santé publique qu'il reviendrait de statuer si la situation l'imposait. »
L'iodure de potassium est un oligo-élément fabriqué par la glande thyroïde qui, elle, régularise les hormones. Lors d'une explosion nucléaire, des rejets d'iode radioactif peuvent se propager dans l'air. Ceux-ci pourraient entraîner des cancers de la glande thyroïde si ingérés par l'humain.
Un produit non recommandé
Le ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) souligne à Narcity que ce genre de comprimés n'est pas disponible au Québec : « Les comprimés d'iode destinés à une utilisation chez les populations suite à un incident nucléaire ne sont pas vendus en pharmacies. »
Les demandes à ce sujet seraient des cas isolés a tenu à préciser le ministère : « Selon l'AQPP (Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires), on rapporte quelques cas seulement. »
« Il n'est pas recommandé de se procurer ces produits ni de les utiliser sans recommandations », ajoute Marjorie Larouche relationniste média du MSSS.
Allant de pair avec le MSSS, les Autorités de sûreté nucléaire ont mentionné, dans une entrevue pour TVA Nouvelles, les dangers qu'une ingestion d'iodine peut entraîner : « cela ne sert à rien de prendre des comprimés d’iode préventivement : non seulement c'est inutile, mais cela peut provoquer des effets indésirables, ou des allergies ».
Rappelons que le gouvernement du Canada n'a évoqué aucune recommandation concernant la prise d'iodine à titre préventif de radioactivité. De plus, bien qu'ayant dénoncé les menaces de Poutine, le premier ministre canadien n'a pas mis le pays en alerte d'une potentielle attaque nucléaire par la Russie.