B.C. NDP Leader David Eby greets supporters during a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C., on Saturday, Sept. 21. Voters in British Columbia will go to the polls for a provincial election on October 19.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s election campaign kicked off on Saturday with both of the main party leaders trading shots over key voter issues of health care, affordability and public safety.
New Democrat Leader David Eby spent the day touring key ridings that delivered his party’s majority in 2020, and warning supporters that his rival, Conservative leader John Rustad, would cut health care spending, make life more costly, and erase progress on the construction of affordable housing.
“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 key issues to watch for in B.C.’s provincial election campaign
Mr. Rustad made his first appearance at Vancouver’s Crab Park, which has been the location of a long-running homeless encampment that he referred to as a symbol of decline in B.C., after seven years of NDP government.
“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 rent and pay for groceries, while the health care system is broken.
“We have endless potential but it is hopelessly managed,” he said.
“What we’ve seen from David Eby, quite frankly, is weak leadership,” he said. “He’s not been able to fix many of the problems we have in this province.” He listed off the deadly opioid crisis, access to health care and the construction of new housing “where he seems to think it’s government’s job.”
At another rally, Mr. Eby fired back: “John, I have a message for you. The premier does have a role in providing affordable housing.”
The day set up what is expected to be a hotly contested race between two veterans of the B.C. Legislature, although neither has campaigned as a party leader.
B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad, speaks during a news conference to kick off his campaign in Vancouver on Saturday.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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.
NDP are promising that the investments they have made in health care, housing and public safety are now starting to bear fruit. “We are just turning the corner,” Mr. Eby told supporters in a packed campaign office, with an overflow crowd spilling out on the sidewalk.
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.
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.
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.
B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau officially launches her campaign with fellow candidates in Victoria on Saturday.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
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.
“We’ve seen a campaign from the other two parties that has focused on mud-slinging, fear and anger,” she said. “The B.C. Greens have something else to offer, a vision of the province that can and should be the best place to live in the whole wide world.”
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.