B.C. Conservatives say costed platform is coming as advance voting opens

British Columbians began voting in the provincial election Friday without a costed platform from the B.C. Conservatives. Interim leader Lorne Doerkson said at a campaign stop in Port Moody that he has seen the platform and it will be announced imminently, but he wants to ensure the party does not promise anything it cannot deliver. He said the numbers must be right and that he wants a clear conscience that the promises to British Columbians can be achieved. Doerkson had said earlier this week voters would see a “fulsome plan” before voting. Advance polls are open from Friday through Wednesday, ahead of election day on Oct. 24.

The provincial New Democrats, led by David Eby, and Emily Lowan’s BC Greens released their costed platforms earlier this week. Doerkson said he wants to avoid what he described as the NDP’s broken promises after the last election, citing a doctor for every resident who wants one and a $1,000 rebate. He said neither happened and the deficit is now $14 billion, explaining the delay in releasing his party’s costed platform.

The campaign is entering its last full weekend before election day, with leaders of all three major parties making pitches Friday in key swing ridings. In Port Moody, Doerkson reiterated the Conservatives’ plans to build a women’s and children’s hospital in Surrey and scrap the Massey Tunnel replacement between Delta and Richmond in favour of a bridge. He also said the party has pledged to cut income taxes by up to $1,000 a year “for nearly every working British Columbian.” He criticized the former NDP government over emergency department wait times, affordability and what he called the “strangling” of small businesses by taxes and red tape. Doerkson told the gathering that things did not have to be this way, accused Eby of devastating the province and said his party had a plan to rebuild B.C. so people could afford to live there.

Eby was campaigning nearby in Coquitlam, in Metro Vancouver. He said the Conservatives’ failure to release a costed platform showed they were unwilling to share their plans for cuts. Eby said the party’s promises would cost $5 billion and it had not explained how it would pay for them. He said Doerkson knew the answer: as B.C. conservative parties had done in the past, the party would pay by cutting services on which people and their families depend.

The NDP also outlined Friday what an Eby government would do if re-elected, including bringing urgent primary care centres to Greater Victoria and Port Hardy, expanding involuntary care to the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver, and building a middle school in Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain neighbourhood. Eby criticized Conservative candidate Mike Hicks in the swing riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat over comments about B.C.’s treaties with First Nations. Video appeared to show Hicks saying the law required people to conquer or sign a treaty with First Nations, and that settlers had arrived and settled without doing either. Hicks said his remarks were taken “out of context.” Eby said they showed Conservative extremism. Hicks responded that he had “inartfully” explained the need to develop modern treaties as time was running out on his answer.

Green Party Leader Emily Lowan received a major endorsement Friday from Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, in the Saanich North and the Islands riding. Phillip’s wife, Joan, was elected and served as an NDP MLA before her death this summer. He had strongly supported the New Democrats in the 2024 provincial campaign. Later Friday, Phillip announced his endorsement of Eby as “the best choice as leader of this province.” Eby said in a statement he was honoured to have the support of his friend and described Phillip as a strong champion for justice. He said he looked forward to continuing their shared work toward a future rooted in respect, true partnership and meaningful reconciliation.

Lowan became the first major-party leader to vote in the election, casting her ballot Friday in Saanichton, a Vancouver Island community.