Former UBCM president calls B.C. snap election a 'party foul' that could have waited

A British Columbia municipal leader says the snap provincial election at the end of October is a "party foul" that is already soaking up staff and attention from city and town elections already scheduled for Oct. 17.

Cori Ramsay, a former Union of British Columbia Municipalities president who is running for council in Prince George, says the chief election officer in her community is "pulling his hair out" because workers hired for the local election are rescinding their contracts for better-paying provincial election jobs.

Ramsay posted on social media that she is "saddened to learn local election workers are hopping to to the provincial election and leaving municipalities in the lurch."

The municipal leader says in an interview that municipalities will be left scrambling to find and train staff to run the local election, whose general voting day of Oct. 17 falls into the advanced voting period for the provincial election of Oct. 16 to Oct. 21.

Ramsay says that she anticipates that the competition for staff will leave municipalities short-handed, leading to long lines and frustrations during the municipal election.

She also says the overlapping elections also are leading to a competition for volunteers, adding that people normally supporting municipal candidates have already switched over to provincial candidates.

Earlier this month, and before Premier David Eby called the provincial election, the UBCM passed an emergency resolution that asked provincial party leaders to respect the principle of separate periods for local and provincial elections.

Premier David Eby said during his UBCM appearance on Sept. 18 that his government would take the resolution under advisement, but then called a provincial election days later.

Ramsay says on social media that the "snap election seems like a party foul" that could have waited for four weeks.

Other municipal leaders including Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim have criticized the early election call, but Eby has said that there is never a wrong time to ask British Columbians for input about the direction of the province amid the tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2026.

By Wolfgang Depner | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.