In the last 50 years, no head of a majority government in Canada has sought an election less than two years after winning the last one. In September, BC Premier David Eby did. He hoped to capitalize on disarray in opposition ranks, but his election immediately proved unpopular. About two-thirds of British Columbians believed the vote was premature and the premier was putting his political interests ahead of the province’s.

Several premiers have called an election in less than three years, and those cases say much about how voters react to an early election call. The closest comparison would be the decision of Ontario’s Doug Ford to call an election in 2025.

Like Eby, Ford was ahead in the polls and sought a new mandate to deal with the threats posed by US president Donald Trump. In Ontario, as in BC, voters did not accept the premier’s justification for calling an election. Angus Reid found that 68 per........

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