Testy B.C. election campaign sees leaders attacking each other more than policy

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s election campaign enters its final day in what is viewed as a too-close-to-call contest where David Eby’s New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives led by John Rustad debated big issues of housing, health care, affordability and the overdose crisis, but also tangled over plastic straws and a billionaire’s billboards.

The two main party leaders spent a lot of time telling voters why they shouldn’t vote for the other rather than presenting their own case for support.

The NDP’s election platform document mentioned Rustad more than 50 times while Eby only received 29 mentions.

The B.C. Conservative platform, delivered in the final week of the campaign, included more than 50 Eby references, while Rustad’s name was highlighted 11 times.

“I hope we never see another election like this,” Eby said this week in Nanaimo, describing the tone of the campaign where he has felt compelled to tell voters about controversial public statements made by Rustad and several of his candidates.

“We don’t call people who are gay groomers,” he said. “We don’t tell Indigenous people that what they experienced in residential schools wasn’t real. We don’t propose that health-care professionals be put in front of an international tribunal similar to the trial of the Nazis called Nuremberg 2.0.”

Rustad dropped several previously nominated B.C. Conservative candidates prior to the start of the election campaign last month for their extreme views posted on social media.

But during the campaign he continued to support Surrey-South candidate Brent Chapman who made an anti-Palestinian post on social media in 2015 and North Coast-Haida Gwaii candidate Chris Sankey, who posted on social media about concerns of what he called vaccine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rustad, who campaigned in Nanaimo on the same day Eby visited the Vancouver Island city, said the NDP leader has consistently attempted to shift focus away from the real issues facing the province, which are the mismanagement of the economy, the crumbling health-care system and the ongoing drug overdose crisis that has resulted in thousands of deaths.

“I don’t know why, I guess as premier he think’s it’s OK to be lying to the people of B.C.,” said Rustad. “The premier of a province like B.C. should be able to be out, being straight up with people and telling them the truth as opposed to lies.”

The campaign’s only televised debate saw Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who has said the Greens will not receive enough votes to win the election, tell voters that Eby and Rustad are more closely aligned than people may believe on supporting the fossil fuel industry and placing people with mental health and addiction issues into involuntary care rather than increasing voluntary care.

Vancouver billionaire Chip Wilson, co-founder of the Lululemon athletic clothing line, also became a fixture in the campaign.

Large billboards with changing messages were posted outside Wilson’s waterfront home, located in Eby’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

Both Eby and Rustad cited the message throughout the campaign.

Wilson called the NDP “communist,” prompting Eby to say he is on the side of ordinary people in B.C. struggling to make ends meet and not the owner of a home assessed at more than $81 million.

Rustad said he supports entrepreneurs like Wilson, but they can’t expect a break on their property taxes.

“Let’s leave John Rustad and Chip Wilson to vote for each other,” Eby said in Vancouver Thursday.

Rustad’s campaign promise to reverse the ban on plastic straws prompted Eby to begrudgingly agree “paper straws suck,” but he suggested the B.C. Conservative leader was trying to stir up controversy by diverting attention from major issues facing the province, including affordable housing.

The vote comes as an atmospheric river, expected to dump as much as 100 millimetres of rain in parts of B.C., is forecast for voting day, with wind and heavy rainfall warnings covering the central and south coast.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press