The first hint of the first whiff of humility crept into the voice of Premier David Eby on Tuesday, as he was peppered by reporters to account for the failure of his party’s election campaign, which cost the BC NDP their majority government on Saturday.

“I'm the leader of the party, I take responsibility for the message that we received from British Columbians that we didn't do well enough, that we need to do more, that they want us to do more,” he said.

“And it is obviously a tough message to hear, but I heard it. And my commitment is to take that message to Victoria in whatever configuration of MLAs has been sent to deliver on those priorities British Columbians want us to focus on.”

The election, said Eby, is a wake-up call “to deliver the basics” like health care, public safety, affordability and economic growth, he said.

But internally, there is already a more flattering version of the election story being passed around. It involves a mighty leader and a heroic band of BC New Democrats who stood up to the blue wave of conservatism and beat it back from the gates of government.

In this version, the election was a victory for the ages, because it preserved a minority NDP government from forces outside of its control — stupid voters who thought they were voting in a federal election, stupider voters who actually supported the BC Conservatives and a North American-wide shift to the political right that had little to do with British Columbia.

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