B.C. NDP leader David Eby, back centre, his wife Cailey Lynch, front left, and daughter Gwen, two months old, arrive at a campaign stop at a supporter's farm in Surrey, B.C., on Sept. 20, 2024.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s election campaign has formally kicked off, with New Democrat Leader David Eby touring key ridings that delivered his party’s majority in 2020.
“If I earn the trust of British Columbians through the campaign, I will be laser-focused on reducing the costs they face everyday,” he told a rally in Richmond, the first official stop of the campaign.
The lieutenant-governor signed the writ on Saturday, with Oct. 19 set as the election date.
Mr. Eby, who has served as British Columbia’s premier for almost two years, is facing voters in a campaign that is very different than the one expected just a few months ago.
The governing NDP enjoyed a comfortable, double-digit lead in public opinion polls until the spring, when their chief rivals, the BC United party, started to hemorrhage support to the provincial Conservatives under leader John Rustad.
That shift prompted the abrupt collapse of BC United in late August, leaving just two main parties in a statistical dead heat in public polls, with the Greens trailing far behind.
The Conservatives have not won an election in B.C. in almost a century, but John Rustad, who has served as an MLA since 2005, revived the party that he took over last year – after he was kicked out of the official opposition because he questioned the science of climate change.
The key issues to watch for in B.C.’s provincial election campaign
NDP are promising that the investments they have made in health care, housing and public safety are just starting to bear fruit. “We are just turning the corner,” Mr. Eby told supporters in a packed campaign office. His campaign schedule for the day includes stops in North Vancouver and Langley, where the NDP made inroads in 2020, and it hopes to hold in the Oct. 19 election.
In a bid to neutralize the Conservative’s populist promise to “axe the carbon tax”, Mr. Eby executed an about-face on carbon pricing just a week before the campaign began, saying he is ready to remove the levy on consumers – not industry – if the federal government drops legislation requiring it.
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad speaks to media in Vancouver on Sept. 20, 2024.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Mr. Rustad has consistently promised to end all forms of carbon pricing. The Conservatives also say they will return the province to balanced budgets, roll back the NDP’s housing policies, and lower taxes.
The Conservatives launched their campaign at Vancouver’s Crab Park, which has been home to a long-running homeless encampment. Mr. Rustad has made public safety a key rallying cry, blaming Mr. Eby for the street disorder that escalated over the past year with the government’s failed decriminalization pilot project.
The Health Canada-sanctioned pilot meant adults in possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs most commonly associated with overdoses would not be arrested or charged. The experiment was scrapped this summer after a widespread backlash over illicit drug use in hospitals, parks and other public spaces.
At the Conservatives’ first campaign stop, Mr. Rustad stood with the picturesque Vancouver harbour behind him, where he referred to tent encampments as a symbol of decline.
“B.C. is at a crossroads,” he said. “The question is, are we going to fight for our future, or continue to manage decline.”
He painted a bleak picture of the state of the province under the NDP, saying almost half the population is struggling to meet the rent and pay for groceries, while the health care system is broken.
“We have endless potential but it is hopelessly managed,” he said.
The third party, the Greens, have been relegated to a distant third place in recent opinion polls. Leader Sonia Furstenau spent the first day of the campaign on the street, holding a public rally in downtown Victoria.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the election writ dropped automatically just after midnight because the election date was set in legislation. In fact, the province's lieutenant-governor signed the writ on Saturday, Sept. 21. This version has been updated.