Vaughn Palmer: There are plenty of examples of David Eby's ruthlessness in staying focused on what it takes to win re-election

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VICTORIA — Former NDP MLA and cabinet minister Selina Robinson recently highlighted an aspect of David Eby’s way of governing that hasn’t got a lot of attention — his ruthlessness.

Robinson has written a memoir about how Eby forced her out of cabinet earlier this year, after she made a wrong-headed remark about Israel and Palestine.

“I am a Jewish woman who believes fervently in my people’s right to national self-determination,” says Robinson. “That was too much for a determined mob of extremist activists — many of whom are within the NDP’s own tent.”

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Initially the premier stood by her, says Robinson in an advance excerpt from the book “Truth Be Told,” published in The Vancouver Sun Saturday.

“David Eby repeatedly assured me he would have my back. That lasted four days. After unrelenting pressure, Eby folded, and fired me.”

She attributes the premier’s reversal to a warning from a group of Muslim clerics, “that, unless I was fired, NDP candidates and elected officials would be prevented from entering Muslim spaces.”

Plus, the NDP was forced to cancel a fundraiser to avoid a threatened protest by “left-leaning........

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