When David Eby Toppled Christy Clark

When he had unrestricted behind-the-scenes access to David Eby’s campaign to topple Christy Clark and become an MLA almost a decade ago, veteran filmmaker George Orr concluded Eby could make an excellent premier one day.

“He was idealistic and bright and focused and environmental, a keen social activist, and I thought ‘well, I’d have him as a premier,’” said Orr, who worked in television news in the 1980s and taught at the BC Institute of Technology.

Last week Eby became premier designate after the BC NDP disqualified his sole challenger for the top job. He has barely begun sketching out his plans for the province and will be sworn in sometime in the next couple weeks.

Orr’s documentary, My Name is David Eby, tracks Eby’s underdog 2013 campaign in Vancouver-Point Grey against then-sitting BC Liberal premier Christy Clark.

In the film a younger, somewhat scruffier Eby talks about his upbringing, activist awakening and political philosophy. There’s footage from his childhood, as well as his time as a legal advocate for people in the Downtown Eastside and supporting protests against the 2010 Olympics.

Eby can also be seen taking a hands-on role setting up his campaign office, talking to well-heeled donors and pounding the pavement going door-to-door to meet voters.

The film is a remarkable window into a pivotal time for both the future premier and the province. While Orr focused on Eby’s local campaign, the ill-fated provincewide effort under then-NDP leader Adrian Dix is rolling along in the background and makes several appearances.

“They were riding so high because they knew they were going to win, and then they lost, so it was a good ending to the story,” Orr said. “It wasn’t a good ending for the party, but it was a good ending for the yarn. He won, they lost.”

Through the two months that Orr had deep access to the campaign, he was impressed with Eby, comparing him to actor Jimmy Stewart in the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, about an idealistic young politician elected to the American senate.

“He just struck me as the kind of person who would get into politics and be seen to be doing well unless he shot himself in the foot,” said Orr.

So what does Orr make of Eby’s last five years in cabinet as part of Premier John Horgan’s government?

“Everybody outside of politics is entirely idealistic, and then as you step into the arena, I don’t know that you lose your ideals, [but] you have to temper your ideals to base yourself on ‘how is this going to play’ as opposed to ‘what do I feel.’”

Eby’s had successes on several files and “never really stepped in it” or seemed to lose sight of why he’s there, Orr said. “He’s been a good guy, just not a spectacular idealistic politician, but then his party isn’t a spectacularly idealistic party. He’s a good party guy.”

He hopes, he said, that as premier, Eby will show more of the “keen young idealist” he met in 2013.