Premier David Eby says British Columbians need a snap election to protect our jobs from the big, bad orange threat to our economy south of the border.

But when it comes to more than 1,000 potential jobs being held up by a lack of power in the small coastal community of Powell River, it appears Eby’s orange NDP government, Crown-owned BC Hydro and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s former trillion-dollar corporate home, Brookfield, have some explaining to do.

On September 22, Eby pulled the plug on his own majority government and sent British Columbians back to the polls less than two years after the last provincial election cost taxpayers $82.4 million to administer.

Why?

According to Eby, Donald Trump.

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“For B.C. and for Canada, this is an existential moment. Trump is threatening our jobs and driving up costs,” Eby said while excusing his campaign. He added that his promise to voters is to “Stand up. Protect. Build.”

BREAKING: BC SNAP ELECTION CALLED.
Eby appealed to citizens’ Trump Derangement Syndrome to try to get them to vote for the NDP for another four years.
BC didn’t become one of the most unaffordable housing markets, threaten our property rights, or develop a free-drug culture that… pic.twitter.com/3acum2F4Jc

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) September 22, 2026

But that slogan rings hollow for Cranberry Business Park, the company redeveloping Powell River’s shuttered paper mill site, which announced today that more than 1,000 potential jobs could be on the line because it has been prevented from securing the power needed to move the project forward.

Cranberry has already invested more than $15 million cleaning up and remediating the former mill site, with plans to transform it into a new industrial, manufacturing and technology hub.

The company is already working with prospective businesses representing significant new employment opportunities and has secured approximately 75 per cent of the former Catalyst Paper Tis’kwat mill site, previously owned by Domtar.

But despite the investment and interest, Cranberry says it has been unable to secure enough power to move those opportunities forward.

“Premier David Eby has called a snap provincial election, saying British Columbia must protect its workers, businesses and sovereignty in the face of U.S. tariffs and economic threats,” Cranberry stated, before questioning, “Why are significant new investment and more than 1,000 potential jobs in Powell River still waiting for access to power at a time when building Canada Strong is critically important?”

According to Cranberry, it has pursued power solutions through Crown-owned BC Hydro and Brookfield, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s former trillion-dollar corporate home, and is now calling on Eby’s provincial government, BC Hydro and Brookfield to come to the table and find a solution.

“We agree that B.C. needs to become stronger and more economically self-reliant. But here in Powell River, we have businesses ready to invest, the potential for more than 1,000 jobs, and millions of dollars already invested in cleaning up a former industrial site. What we don’t have is timely access to power,” Cranberry CEO Craig Austin said.

And here’s the kicker.

While Eby campaigns on Donald Trump “threatening our jobs” and promises to make B.C. less dependent on the United States, electricity generated right there in the hard-hit community of Powell River, which once supplied its now-shuttered paper mill, is currently being exported to the United States.

According to the B.C. Utilities Commission, Powell River Energy Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable Partners, owns and operates two hydroelectric generating stations at Powell Lake and Lois Lake, with a combined generating capacity of approximately 85 megawatts.

For more than two decades, that electricity supplied the paper mill.

But according to the federal records, “since the mill’s closure in 2021, PREI has been exporting all of the electricity from its generating facilities to the U.S. via export permits held by affiliate companies.”

For Powell River residents, the lack of power isn't some abstract energy policy debate. It's standing in the way of what could be a major economic lifeline for a community that has already lost its largest industrial employer.

It's a concern Powell River Mayor Ron Woznow tells Rebel News is well-founded.

“The major block is energy. Most people will understand that you can't have an industrial park without energy. And so until [Cranberry] knows that they've got secured energy they can't sign agreements with potential residents of the industrial park,” said Woznow.

The longtime Powell River resident, who is not seeking re-election as mayor, says the loss of the mill continues to weigh heavily on the community, where residents are still asking what will replace it.

“The key question that I get continuously, whether I'm shopping for groceries or just walking down to the beach, is what is happening with the redevelopment of the mill site,” he said.

And according to Woznow, the provincial government is well aware of the problem.

The mayor expressed hope the NDP government will follow through after local MLA and cabinet minister Randene Neill previously committed to helping get Cranberry the power it needs.

“There is commitment from Minister Randene Neill, who understands the importance of the mill site being redeveloped, and will work with us to ensure that Cranberry gets the energy required,” Woznow said.

“So there's hope, and we'll keep watching to see if that actually happens”Woznow added.

But even so, there are still some big questions about this delay that remain.

I'm investigating why the Eby and Carney governments are telling British Columbians one thing about protecting jobs and putting Canada first, while Powell River residents appear to be living a very different reality.

Stay tuned.