The Battle for BC
Pocketbook pitches pile up as leaders get a debate date
Week three of the B.C. election campaign was all about your wallet. According to recent polling from the Angus Reid Institute, cost of living is the runaway top concern for voters at 57 per cent, and the leaders spent the week competing over who can ease the squeeze, and who should pay for it.
NDP Leader David Eby opened with a promise to cut 10 cents a litre off the fuel tax and have the BC Utilities Commission cap prices at the pump. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson was quick to remind voters of the $1,000 in relief promised in 2024 that never arrived, while praising Ottawa’s designation of the Pacific Link pipeline as a project of national interest.
Then came the tax. On Sunday, Eby pledged a new bracket for income over $1 million and two-point increases for those earning above roughly $190,000, with the revenue going to seniors’ care. Doerkson branded it a “doctor’s tax” and took his campaign to 100 Mile House, where the ER has closed dozens of times this year, to announce a $50-million fund for rural emergency rooms. The Greens went further still, proposing a tax on wealth above $50 million.
Eby also picked a fight with Jim Pattison. He stood in front of a Kelowna Save-On-Foods on Friday to promise a cap on grocers’ profit margins for essentials, charging in a news release that “corporate retailers are using inflation as a cover to jack up prices on essential goods.” The barbs aimed at Pattison weren’t universally well received in NDP circles, with former premier Ujjal Dosanjh accusing Eby of “denigrating an icon.”
Eby’s NDP is wagering that voters want someone to blame, and has shifted its focus from the Trump-heavy messaging of week one to the province’s high-income earners. The Conservatives are wagering that voters want someone to build, with Doerkson’s latest ad declaring that “the era of delay is over.” In a province where the current mood seemingly favours shovels over scapegoats, “tax the rich” is a risky closing argument, and it has handed the Conservatives an opening on health care.
The numbers suggest the build message is landing. The same Angus Reid poll puts the Conservatives at 48 per cent and the NDP at 43, with both parties up three points as the Greens slide to seven. Voters are locking in too: 46 per cent are now very certain of their choice, up from 35, heading into a Thanksgiving weekend when families will gather around the turkey and firm up their decisions.
Health care sits second on the issues list at 42 per cent. Just 10 per cent name Trump and tariffs, which goes a long way to explaining the NDP’s pivot.
The slates are also set. The Conservatives are running in all 93 ridings and the NDP in 92. The Greens, who had just 18 candidates a week ago, finished with 73.
Next up: the campaign’s only televised debate, next Wednesday, October 14, from 6:15 to 8 p.m. Eby, Doerkson and Green Leader Emily Lowan will share the stage with Angus Reid’s Shachi Kurl moderating. CentreBC and OneBC were not invited. For Eby, it may be the last best chance to change the trajectory. For Doerkson, the job is simpler: don’t give anyone a reason to change their mind.
New West Public Affairs is following the BC election closely and is ready to help clients make sense of the dynamic and changing landscape in the province.
