B.C. NDP unveils election platform, focusing on ‘tough challenges’ and John Rustad

New Democrat Leader David Eby says he will help British Columbia households with a $1,000 grocery rebate, in an election platform that mentions rival B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad more than 50 times.

The platform launch on Thursday also prompted Eby to reject the ideological concerns of another critic: multibillionaire Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, who has posted a sign outside his home in Eby’s Vancouver-Point Grey constituency saying “the NDP is ‘Communist.'”

“We did increase Chip Wilson’s taxes,” Eby said Thursday when asked about the sign outside Wilson’s waterfront home, which BC Assessment says is worth $81 million.

“We used that money to do things like breakfast programs for kids, to expand health care. I know when you are so rich that the Red Hot Chili Peppers play your birthday party, it’s possible to lose perspective,” said Eby, referring to a widely reported 2013 performance by the band at Wilson’s home.

“I would just say to Mr. Wilson people are struggling out there and we need to provide support to them.”

The NDP’s election campaign platform promises to find solutions to “today’s tough challenges,” Eby said at a news conference at the home of Surrey NDP candidate Baltej Dhillon, a former RCMP officer who was the first Mountie in Canada permitted to wear a turban on duty.

The 65-page platform document lists about $2.9 billion in what it calls new investments until 2027, while mentioning Rustad by name 56 times, compared with 29 times for Eby.

Among the new pledges are the $1,000-per-household grocery rebate next year, allowing pets in purpose-built rentals and free off-peak transit for seniors, while promises that have already been unveiled include a middle-class provincial income tax cut of about $1,000 per household starting in 2026.

The platform estimates government revenue to drop by more than $1.5 billion due to its proposals, and forecasts the province’s budget deficit to increase next year from the projected $6.7 billion to $9.6 billion.

Eby said the grocery rebate aims to help as many people as possible because previous government rebate and relief measures required income tests or having auto insurance or paying hydro bills.

“The challenge, I think, is that each of these programs requires you to fit into one box or another,” he said. “The focus for us was on addressing that affordability piece but designing it in a way that the maximum number of people benefit.”

Eby said the platform document’s heavy focus on Rustad is meant to show voters the differences between the NDP’s vision to tackle affordability and the plans of the B.C. Conservatives. The document includes several breakout sections titled “What’s the Rustad Risk?” with black-and-white photos of a glowering Rustad.

“It’s obviously critical that they understand the risk that’s represented by the proposals coming forward from John Rustad,” Eby said.

Rustad’s plans would double the cost of car insurance for young people and result in home care cuts for older people, said Eby, adding the B.C. Conservative leader was part of previous B.C. Liberal governments that implemented drastic service reductions.

“He cut services people depended on,” Eby said. “He hurt people. He really hurt people.”

Rustad has announced several economic initiatives in recent days, and on Wednesday introduced a plan to end the provincial insurance corporation’s monopoly on basic vehicle insurance.

He said Thursday that this would bring in competition, drive down costs and improve services.

“Any time you’ve got competition, you’re going to get the best prices,” he said.

Rustad said ICBC has “lost its edge,” but he still believed it could be competitive.

“(That’s) why we want to build … competition and let ICBC be able to structure itself as competitively as possible so that we are seeing the best rates we can.”

The Conservatives had already pledged to exempt people who suffer life-altering injuries in crashes from ICBC’s no-fault insurance model, saying it’s unfair to accident victims to curtail opportunities to sue for damages.

An equivalent to no-fault would remain in place for minor injuries, Rustad said.

“For major injuries, we will allow … an individual to have somebody to represent them and to fight for what they need to be able to recover fully,” he said.

The Conservatives have also released a series of pledges related to infrastructure, transit and boosting the economy, including Rustad’s promise to reintroduce a minister responsible for “red tape reduction.”

“The key is we need to get to better management in this province. We need to be able to make sure that we unleash our potential,” he told reporters on Thursday.

A statement from the Conservatives says they would eliminate B.C.’s nearly $9-billion deficit within two terms of government and require voter approval of any new taxes, through referendum or an election.

“There are times when government does need to go back to the taxpayer and ask for resources for specific things, but when that time comes, they should actually ask the taxpayer, the people in this province, for permission to be able to do that.”

Rustad said the Conservatives would be rolling out more announcements over the coming days and the party’s complete platform would follow.

The party later Thursday announced a plan to bring back plastic straws and cutlery and end compulsory plastic bag fees. Rustad said in a news release that the plastic straw ban was “nothing but a nuisance.”

Eby said the NDP’s platform, “An Action Plan For You,” pledges to make life better for families, youth and older people.

“I hear you, and I see you,” says Eby in the document. “The challenges we are facing together are what drive me. And working to solve them is what gets me out of bed each morning.”

Other platform commitments include building 300,000 affordable homes, finding a family doctor for everybody in B.C., building more hospitals, ensuring safer streets by giving police more powers to fight gangs and creating good jobs by expanding training programs.

Eby also promised to ensure every public school has a mental health counsellor and to end bias against pet owners by getting rid of “no-pet” clauses in purpose-built rental apartment buildings.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said in a statement both the NDP and B.C. Conservatives are showing they have little to offer B.C. voters.

“The B.C. NDP is out of their own ideas and has no plan to tackle the root causes of the problems facing British Columbians,” she said. “Meanwhile, Conservatives offer nothing but a return to B.C. Liberal-era austerity cuts and privatization, which created the crises we face today.”

Furstenau told reporters Thursday that her government would increase social and disability assistance rates to $2,400 per month, and provide a guaranteed income for youth aging out of care.

She said they would deliver $10-a-day child care by April 2026 and increase wages for early childhood educators.

Furstenau said her party’s platform is offering a “holistic view” for the province with a clear plan for how they will pay for it.

“What I’ve seen from both the B.C. Conservatives and the B.C. NDP is the standard promise we get, generally from right-wing political parties, which is, we’re going to cut taxes with no plan for how to address the costs of the things they’re promising,” she said.

“In our platform, we’ve made it very clear we are adding taxes to the wealthiest people and the wealthiest corporations.”

— With files Brenna Owen and Ashley Joannou in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Dirk Meissner and Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press