It’s worth paying attention to the aggressive and bombastic language BC Green leader Emily Lowan is using on the campaign trail to talk about taxing wealthy oligarchs in this province. Because the way this election is going, BC NDP Leader David Eby is on track to steal her lines.

As polls suggest the NDP’s early focus on blaming U.S. President Donald Trump for the snap election has flopped, Eby has begun ramping up the rhetoric on a new set of villains to blame for B.C.’s woes: grocery barons, millionaires, heartless developers and corporate elites.

It’s a significant mid-campaign pivot for a premier best known for his policy chops, who is now neck-deep in the low-intelligence populist rhetoric nicknamed “slopulism.”

The new Brotherhood of Evil Entities are, according to Eby, “gouging” British Columbians at the bread aisle, on real estate, at the gas pump and on their income tax, as they laugh their way to wealth on the backs of everyone else.

“Government needs to use its force, we need to use our authority, we need to use our rules to make sure that British Columbians are not gouged,” Eby said Oct. 1 at his gas price cap event.

“We’re going to make sure that for you and your family that you’re not getting gouged at the till on the essentials that you need,” he said Oct. 3 at his grocery price cap event.

“They’re going to pay more tax for the privilege of hoarding housing when people are looking for a place to live,” Eby said Sept. 27 at his developer tax event.

It’s language we’ve rarely heard from Eby before during his four-year tenure as premier. He’s usually into the weeds on policy, thoughtful about details and pledging to work with affected sectors.

Increasingly though, he’s sounding more like Lowan, who has made class warfare her distinct brand.

“The ultra-wealthy make more money in one night’s sleep than the average B.C. worker does in a year,” Lowan said at an event Monday.

“Asking someone with multiple homes and a massive stock portfolio to give a sliver of their wealth to ensure that British Columbians can afford an affordable, safe, and dignified life is worth the political will it takes to get there,” she added.

You can easily close your eyes and imagine this new NDP campaign pumping out something similar. In fact, on this trajectory, it appears the inevitable conclusion of the strategy.

Consider how close Eby came when attacking B.C. billionaire Jimmy Pattison last week, among the province’s largest philanthropists.

“We have five major grocery store chains in BC and just a couple of them — Loblaws, owned by the Weston family, Save On Foods, owned by the Pattisons — those two families alone have increased their net worth by $4.4 billion in the last year — $4.4 billion while families are struggling with the cost of everyday life,” he said.

The disconnect between the details-oriented premier and the new slopulist campaigner is jarring.

It produced some friction Monday at an event in Victoria, where Eby tried to portray his decision to raise taxes on high-income earners as a fight against millionaires.

“Just to be totally clear, this is above a million dollars a year,” he said. “It’s where the new tax bracket starts to pay a little bit more.”

False.

The tax hikes start two brackets below that, with a two-percentage-point increase at $190,405 and another two points at $265,000, in addition to the new million-dollar bracket above that. The $190,405 mark is a far cry from a millionaire, as media pointed out to Eby several times Monday.

“There are other tax brackets going up,” one reporter observed in a question.

“People making $190,000 or more will be taxed for that portion above that, so it’s not really just millionaires,” said another.

But Eby just plowed forward on his messaging.

“It’s a very small group of people,” he said. “They’re doing OK. And I’m glad for their success. And there’s a lot of families that are struggling right now, and this is an opportunity for all of us to work together to deliver the kind of province that we know British Columbians deserve.”

It was similar to his snide takedown of Pattison — who former NDP premier John Horgan called a local “hero” for his numerous record-breaking donations to local hospitals.

“Don’t worry about Jimmy, he’ll be OK, he’ll land on his feet,” Eby said mockingly.

Pattison may land on his feet, true. But increasingly, the BC NDP and its metamorphosing campaign does not look like it will be able to do the same.

Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Lodestar Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.

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