NDP’s David Eby says some Conservatives want B.C. to be ‘American protectorate’

New Democrat Leader David Eby says some members of the British Columbia Conservative Opposition have a vision of B.C. as a protectorate of the United States, and the party’s leader isn’t doing enough to rein them in. 

Eby said Thursday that interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson cold not stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump because he could not stand up to members of his own party whose ideologies aligned with MAGA-style politics to the south.

“Lorne Doerkson seems like a nice guy. But I never heard him say the word ‘Trump’ before this election,” Eby said.

Eby referred to a social media image reposted by Conservative MLA David Williams last year, showing parts of B.C. within the “Republic of Western Canada,” which was described as “a protectorate of the United States.”

He also criticized the decision by some Conservative caucus members to meet U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra and said they suggested they would drop the province’s ban on U.S. alcohol, something Doerkson has denied. 

Eby said the Opposition party promoted rolling over to Trump, and that the “chaos” would hurt B.C.

Doerkson has repeatedly described Trump as a “bully” since Eby called the snap Oct. 24 election on Tuesday, in a sharp change of tone from the Conservative leadership under Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who quit on Sunday.

He did so again on Thursday.

“Standing up to Donald Trump comes from taking real action, not press releases,” Doerkson said in a statement.

“You don’t stop a bully with tough talk three weeks before an election. You stop a bully by being strong enough that you don’t need him. The NDP had nine years to make B.C. that strong, and B.C. families are still waiting.”

The Conservatives meanwhile boasted of a surge in their poll numbers, according to figures released by the Angus Reid Institute.

The pollsters said the Conservatives have the support of 43 per cent of voters, with the NDP having 35 per cent. The institute also said it found 62 per cent of voters believed the election had been called too soon, based on a randomized online survey of a randomized sample of 801 B.C. adults conducted from Tuesday to Thursday.

The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

Eby spoke at a campaign event in Maple Ridge where he pledged new procurement rules for public infrastructure projects.

He said the province needed to be its own best customer and his government would bring in new rules requiring ministries, Crown agencies and health authorities to use products from B.C. and Canada when building projects. 

The new approach would also immediately apply to the construction of the North Coast Transmission Line, he said, ensuring that Canadian steel is used in 70 per cent of Phase 1 of the project and 100 per cent in Phase 2. 

Firefighting analogies from Eby’s speech outside Government House on Tuesday were notably absent Thursday. 

He had previously spoken of building a “firebreak” against Trump’s economic attacks on Canada, a choice of words some critics characterized as insensitive. Hundreds of homes were destroyed by wildfires in B.C. this year.

“We can add fuel to the fire by following the chaotic direction of the conservative parties in this province … we can’t afford to spread the fire,” he said Tuesday.

A resurfaced video from Global News shows Doerkson helping fight a wildfire near 100 Mile House with a hose in 2021, with critics now contrasting Doerkson’s literal firefighting with Eby’s metaphoric efforts.

“Lorne fights fires. Eby uses them for campaign metaphors,” the Conservatives said on social media. 

Eby did not directly answer questions from reporters about whether he regretted his turn of phrase.

He said that if Doerkson won the election, the ultimate decision on whether he would remain premier would be in the hands of party members who would need to confirm him as their leader on a permanent basis. 

The Conservatives’ directors have previously said they would “pursue the appropriate means” to keep Doerkson in power by amending their constitution.

“They want a blank check,” Eby said. “And the signatory on that check will be the same party members that sent Kerry-Lynne Findlay in as leader.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2026.