What could 'Premier Eby' mean for you?

What would Premier Eby mean for B.C.? David Eby is running to be B.C.'s next premier, and with no one else in the race yet, he's likely to win.

David Eby is B.C.'s presumptive next premier, who could lead the provincial New Democratic Party into a new era. For now, though, he says not to expect any drastic changes.

For years, Eby has presented himself as the politician tough on money launderers, who fixed ICBC and dealt with housing.

As he kicked off his campaign Tuesday night, the former attorney general shared personal details of growing up in Kitchener, Ont., and spoke to why he wants to be premier.

"It's, in fact, my understanding of the remarkable privileges I had as a child, in my house, and the arbitrary unfairness that not everyone has those opportunities, that drove me to do the type of work I’ve done in my career," he told supporters and media.

Before becoming an MLA, he was a lawyer and an activist. The get-it-done minister is now a backbencher. He resigned his duties to run in the race to replace John Horgan.

If – as is largely expected – Eby gets the top job, affordability, housing and health care are three big challenges staring him down. Overall, he says he doesn't think British Columbians are looking for a drastic change.

"I think they're looking for stability," he told CTV News in an interview.

Still, Eby believes the province may need to build public housing for the middle class.

"People can afford housing, they have good jobs. They're very frustrated that it's not available," said Eby. "And so where the private market has failed, we'll partner with Indigenous people, we'll use public land, we'll partner with the private sector where we can, to deliver that housing."

For SFU political scientist Stewart Prest, that's a sign that Eby may not make major changes, but may be willing to explore new ideas.

"He's really trying to, it seems like, signal that he is going to try to do some things that are sort of on the edges of policy where the party has experienced some criticism," Prest told CTV News in an interview.

No major changes is a good way to keep some of the voters the NDP found in the last provincial election in 2020, which handed them a resounding victory, added Prest.

"Whether it was ICBC reform or dealing with money laundering, he was somebody who has a reputation for getting things done and moving the ball," explained Prest. "But for a leader, you need to bring everyone along. You need to be able to give people some assurance that things are not necessarily going to change too fast, too quickly."

Both the opposition Liberals and the Green Party say Eby is more of the same.

While the Liberals criticize him for being "soft on crime," the Greens say the status quo means not taking the climate emergency seriously enough.

"He was in support of increasing oil and gas subsidies in this province, he has not stood up around the ongoing logging of old-growth," said Green leader Sonia Furstenau.

While a new leader will face many issues – such as ensuring unity amongst the caucus and getting familiar with party members across the province – the most immediate issue facing Eby is convincing party members he can pick up where Horgan leaves off.