Opinion: Eby's grocery promise comes 22 days before the vote, after 46 months as premier

Gary Blisia is a voche.me reader. This article is his opinion. The facts he relies on are listed with their sources at the end.

On Friday, October 2, David Eby stood outside the Save-On-Foods on Kane Road in Kelowna and promised to lower my grocery bill. Election day is October 24. That is 22 days later.

I have read the promise and I have read his record. I will show you the record first and give my conclusion at the end.

What he promised

Kelowna Capital News and the Kelowna Daily Courier both reported the plan. A re-elected NDP government would cap the profit that corporate grocery chains make on milk, eggs, cheese, butter and poultry. Mr. Eby calls this a "price guard". He also promised to ban property deals that stop rival grocers from opening, to require a clear price per unit on store shelves, to ban pricing that is set by tracking individual shoppers, and to help open a wholesale food market in the Lower Mainland for farmers and small grocers.

The NDP said in its release that these measures "could save customers up to $700 per year", depending on the region. That figure is the party's own estimate. I have seen no calculation behind it.

Mr. Eby described the problem himself. The Daily Courier reported him saying that a family of four now spends $17,500 a year on groceries, 27 per cent more than five years ago. "Every week, it feels like groceries are more expensive," he said, in the Capital News report.

Who was premier during those five years

Mr. Eby was sworn in as premier on November 18, 2022. From that day to his Kelowna announcement is 46 months. Five years is 60 months. He ran the government for 46 of the 60 months in which, by his own figure, food prices rose 27 per cent.

He understood the problem on his first day. The government news release of November 18, 2022 quotes him saying that global inflation was putting pressure on people and small businesses. That day he announced a one-time $100 credit on BC Hydro bills and a BC Affordability Credit worth up to $410 for a family of four. I give him credit for that. It was real money, and it was paid once.

The $1,000 that never arrived

On September 29, 2024, which was 20 days before the last election, Mr. Eby promised $1,000 a year for the average family. The NDP release from that day says the money would come in 2025 as a direct rebate, "so people do not have to wait for the help they need now". In the same release he said the plan "supports people now who are struggling with the high costs of groceries".

British Columbians voted on October 19, 2024, and the NDP stayed in government. On February 13, 2025, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey cancelled the rebate. That was 117 days after election day. Radio-Canada reported her reasons: the rebate would cost $2 billion, and tariff threats from the United States had changed the province's finances. "We made it with the intention of doing it, but the world has changed," she said.

I accept that the tariff threat was real. I also see what the government chose to cut: the money it had promised to families who were paying more for food.

Then income tax went up

Budget 2026 was presented on February 17, 2026. The government's own budget paper says it raised the tax rate on the first income bracket from 5.06 per cent to 5.60 per cent, and that this means "an additional $76 in income taxes for the average taxpayer in 2026". The same paper says more than 40 per cent of taxpayers will pay less once a larger tax credit is counted. I include that because it is in the same document. The budget also removed the sales tax exemption for basic cable television and land-line telephone service.

Food prices rose through all of this. BC Stats reported that food in British Columbia cost 3.3 per cent more in August 2026 than in August 2025.

Then he called an election

On September 22, 2026, Mr. Eby asked for the legislature to be dissolved. Victoria News reported that he was less than two years into a four-year term. The reason he gave was the damage from U.S. tariffs. Nine days later he promised to cut the gas tax by 10 cents a litre. The day after that, he promised cheaper groceries.

What can be said in his defence

A fair reader should weigh three points. The tariff threat was real, and his finance minister said it could cost the province $69 billion in economic output over four years. His government did pay credits in late 2022 and early 2023. And BC Stats reported that prices overall rose 3.0 per cent in British Columbia in the year to August 2026, the second lowest rate among the provinces.

I have weighed them. They explain why one promise was cancelled. They leave my main question unanswered.

The question he has to answer

The Daily Courier reported one more thing Mr. Eby said in Kelowna. He said the province is able to cap profits on these foods because they are already under price controls through supply management, the system that sets what farmers are paid for milk, eggs and poultry. Supply management was already in place when he became premier.

So here is my question. If the province has had this power for his whole time in office, why did he wait 46 months, and until an election campaign, to use it? All five grocery measures are promises for after October 24. Each one depends on his party winning first.

My conclusion

I do not know what Mr. Eby thinks in private, and he may believe in this plan. I judge him on what he did. In 46 months as premier he paid one-time credits, promised $1,000 before an election and cancelled it after the election, raised the first income tax rate, and then offered a grocery plan 22 days before he needs my vote.

My opinion is this. Mr. Eby wants my vote. For most of those 46 months, my grocery bill was a lower priority for his government than it is this month.

Read the sources below and decide for yourself. You can compare what the parties offer on food costs, starting with the BC NDP page. Election day is October 24, 2026, and advance voting runs from October 16 to October 21.