Opinion: Post-mortem on overlapping election in Saskatchewan in 2020 reported significant voter confusion

VICTORIA — NDP leader David Eby continues to insist that he caused no confusion, distraction or inconvenience with his decision to call a provincial election in the middle of municipal campaigns for almost 200 local governments.

“The local candidate elections, as far as I can tell, are running just fine,” Eby said this week when asked about the overlapping campaigns. “They are going to have their election date and then we’ll have ours.”

But opinion polls have flagged the concern from the outset. And local government leaders and organizers continue to complain about being overshadowed by the provincial campaign.

Here’s a recent comment about the provincial election from Melissa Granum, one of three candidates for mayor of Delta:

“I think it is unfair to local government. Local government has such a huge impact on the daily lives of residents, and now there’s confusion,” she told John Mackie of Postmedia.

“We’ll have voter fatigue. It’s hard enough at local government to get voter turnout and voter engagement to layer on a (provincial) election for their own purposes is very frustrating.”

That’s just one example among many.

I asked Eby this week if he’d addressed the concern about overlapping with the civic campaign when he asked Lt.-Gov Wendy Cocchia to dissolve the legislature.

He sidestepped the question and reverted to his familiar justification that he needed a mandate to fight the trade war with Donald Trump.

However, I would be surprised if the viceregal representative did not exercise her constitutional right — “to be consulted, to encourage and to warn” — before granting Eby’s request.

Nor would I be surprised if Eby — who is rarely more sure of himself than when he is on the wrong track — didn’t welcome any questioning about the overlapping campaign.

In the news conference following his meeting with the lieutenant-governor, Eby was asked more than once about the ethics, the opportunism, and the need to call a provincial election while civic campaigns were already underway.

He ignored the questions twice and the third time expressed “confidence” in the public’s ability to understand the importance of the taking on Trump and tariffs.

A few days later, Eby made the extraordinary suggestion that the overlapping campaigns would provide local government leaders with an opportunity to “pick a side” in the provincial election.

“I do think that this will give an opportunity for local government leaders to pick a side,” he told the CBC’s Stephen Quinn.

“Are they on the side for their communities, building out the infrastructure, the roads, the ports, tech, life sciences, industries we can grow here at home?

“Or are they supporters of the Conservative approach of doubling down on the old way, where we were too closely tied to the U.S., fighting unnecessary culture wars, dividing people and cutting quality programs like health care and education instead of ensuring that we’re building for the next generation? I think that choice is as relevant for local leaders as it is for the provincial government.

“Are they going to respond by partnering with the British Columbia government? And that’s the question I’m asking at the provincial level. Where do British Columbians want to go?”

On hearing those comments, I gather some local government leaders had to suppress a temptation to call up Eby and tell him, in no uncertain terms, “where to go.”

Turns out there is already an authoritative report on the negative impacts of overlapping provincial and local government campaigns, courtesy of the independent chief electoral officer of Saskatchewan, Michael Boda.

Saskatchewan had overlapping campaigns in 2020 and he delivered a post-mortem (including the findings from a survey) that concluded:

“The end result was significant voter confusion. I am of the view that overlapping election periods are not good for voters or candidates for election. They also introduce risks to administering the election that could undermine people’s confidence in our electoral processes and, ultimately, our democracy.”

When I asked Eby about the report from Saskatchewan, he said he was not aware of it.

He then reiterated his “great confidence in the voters of British Columbia, their ability to understand who’s on their side, and to vote in two elections.

Eby’s decision to go ahead with the Oct. 24 election call will restart the calendar on the province’s four-year election cycle. Local government elections are also on a four-year cycle, so the province will be into overlapping campaigns again in October 2030.

Still, I’m guessing that will depend on the outcome of this provincial campaign and whether Eby’s decision to call the 2026 provincial election proves to be a winner or a terrible mistake.

In the latter event, I expect some New Democrats will be wishing that the lieutenant-governor would have somehow warned off Eby from calling the snap election.