Conservative Leader John Rustad, left, speaks during a campaign stop in Abbotsford, and B.C. NDP Leader David Eby speaks during a campaign stop, in Langley, B.C., both on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
BC Conservatives are pitching what they call common-sense policies in the provincial election campaign with an approach that echoes that of the federal party and, some say, may provide lessons for the next national vote.
Rivals of the federal Conservatives are watching for potential parallels. MP Peter Julian, the NDP House Leader, says he has been out knocking on doors for the provincial party along with other New Democratic MPs from the province ahead of the vote on Oct. 19.
“This is very much, I think, a preview potentially of what the federal election might look like in B.C.,” said Mr. Julian, who represents the Vancouver-area riding of New Westminster–Burnaby.
“I think it’s fair to say we’re learning, in real time, every day about the best way to take on the kind of empty sloganeering and disinformation of the Conservatives, and their lack of seriousness at the provincial level, but, I would argue, at the federal level too.”
There are a number of similarities between the Conservatives in Ottawa and the party in B.C., though there are no official links between the two.
Federal Conservatives have raised questions about the association between the governing Liberals and New Democrats through the supply-and-confidence agreement that the NDP recently ended. In B.C., the provincial Conservatives, in one recent release, targeted the “Eby-Trudeau Alliance,” referring to NDP Premier David Eby and the Prime Minister.
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Political observers say the B.C. race is also worth watching for issues such as climate change in winning votes, as well as how the federal NDP, in particular, might battle the rival Conservatives.
Federal Liberals were once part of the BC Liberal coalition, working with federal Conservatives to counter the NDP. The BC Liberals governed the province from 2001 to 2017.
However, the party was renamed BC United. Its leader, Kevin Falcon, suspended the BC Liberal campaign to support the BC Conservatives.
Pollster Greg Lyle says the battle in B.C. during the next national election will also be between the New Democrats and Conservatives, given sagging public-opinion numbers for the federal Liberals.
The Liberals have 14 of B.C.’s 41 seats federally, with the Conservatives and NDP each having 13. The Green Party has one seat, held by party Leader Elizabeth May.
Mr. Lyle says federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s challenge is to hold off the Conservatives. “He has to learn from Eby,” Mr. Lyle said in an interview.
But Mr. Lyle said there may be lessons for the federal Conservatives too, especially if provincial New Democrats are able to gain an upper hand over their rivals by casting them as agents of “scary change” on such issues as global warning.
That’s something Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre “would have to pay attention to,” said Mr. Lyle.
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Political scientist Hamish Telford says John Rustad, a former BC Liberal cabinet minister now leading the provincial Conservatives, has been building support, and is now running a campaign based on strategies developed and deployed by the federal Conservatives.
The provincial party website features a headline about “Common Sense Change,” echoing a slogan of their federal counterparts.
Mr. Poilievre talks about killing federal carbon pricing, a point that Mr. Rustad has consistently raised. And the parties have similar policies that prefer treatment over harm-reduction and drug decriminalization. Meanwhile, the NDP is generally on the opposite side of these issues.
On carbon pricing, Mr. Eby has said that he would eliminate the environmental levy if the federal government drops legislation requiring it.
“[John Rustad] is really following this well-established playbook that Pierre Poilievre has set out,” Mr. Telford, a professor the University of the Fraser Valley, said in an interview.
Mr. Telford says the provincial election will be an opportunity to see how those messages resonate in the Vancouver-region suburban ridings key to this campaign.
“There’s a test there for Conservative messaging,” said Mr. Telford.
As of dissolution, the governing NDP had 55 members in the 87-seat B.C. Legislature. BC United had 20 seats.
The B.C. Conservatives, who have not won an election since 1952, had eight seats.
The BC Greens had two seats, and there were two Independents. Redistribution before the campaign began has increased the number of seats to 93.
Under Mr. Eby, the BC NDP is seeking to continue a run in government that began, under former premier John Horgan, in 2017. Mr. Eby became premier in 2022.
Public-opinion polling has had the two main parties in a tie, or the Conservatives running slightly ahead of the New Democrats.
Neither the federal Conservatives nor BC Conservative Party responded to a request for comment.