WATCH: Doerkson predicts Eby will 'regret' calling election, says BC Conservatives now 'united'

Just hours after BC NDP leader David Eby called a snap election, his newly-minted BC Conservative counterpart, Lorne Doerkson, offered up a response.

He argued that the until-recently fractured party was now "united," and predicted that Eby would "regret" his decision to send British Columbians to the polls.

Doerkson began by calling Eby's call an "opportunistic political move," but noted that the election "actually offers an opportunity for hope and for real change."

"Today we're coming together," he said, flanked by MLAs and former leadership candidates.

Doerkson went on to accuse the BC NDP of "mismanagement," citing the $13.8 billion deficit, struggling industries, the toxic drug crisis, (un)affordability, and uncertainty around private property.

Eby made it very clear that he wanted to make the election about which party was best suited to stand up against Donald Trump, and accused the BC Conservatives of being too friendly to the president.

Doerkson pushed back against those claims, calling Trump a "bully" and vowing to ensure BC will "never be the 51st state."

Among those in attendance was Peter Milobar, who recently left the BC Conservatives and became the leader of CentreBC. Now back in the former, he said he and his colleagues are "coming back together as a progressive ideas and conservative values party."