Carney’s delay visiting BC shows that New Democrats are the best choice to defeat Conservatives in the province

In the first 24 days Mark Carney was Prime Minister, he went to a lot of places. Nearly every province. England and France. But not British Columbia.

And he waited until the third week of the election to travel to Canada’s third biggest province.

B.C. was never on his tour schedule. His campaign changed plans earlier to return to Ottawa for tariffs meetings, but at the cost of a planned stop in Quebec, not BC. His only trip out West was to Winnipeg on April 1, and he was always expected back in Ottawa for Trump’s planned announcement on the 2nd.

“There’s always a risk when you take those things for granted and you count your chickens before they hatch,” UBC political scientist Stewart Prest told the Vancouver Sun yesterday. “It can play into a narrative where Mr. Carney is governing in the interest of, and focusing energy on, the centre of the country.”

On Friday, B.C. Premier David Eby endorsed the NDP and urged British Columbians to re-elect NDP MPs.

NDP BC Campaign Director Glen Sanford:

“It’s incredibly disappointing that we’re approaching the halfway point in this campaign, but Mark Carney hasn’t bothered to visit B.C. until now. If we can’t count on the Liberal leader to show up in our province, we can’t count on him to defeat Conservatives here. In British Columbia, it’s New Democrats who are poised to defeat Conservatives – just like we did last time.”