Amid cultural wars being played during the election campaign and an electorate focused on cost-of-living issues, the B.C. election could be a testing ground for the federal election, observers say.
“I think in a number of ways, B.C. is a microcosm for the country as a whole,” says Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.
“We see concerns about affordability and about access to affordable housing, concerns about the management of the economy. … Health care seems to be another issue as well, which we know resonates in every election, both federal and provincial.”
Federal politics have also had significant impacts in B.C., with the provincial Conservatives adopting slogans and key strategies such as “axing the carbon tax” that are federal Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre’s signature topics.
“They are finding ways to use language like ‘common sense,’” Prest said. “They are talking about the need to do away with red tape, similar to that idea of getting rid of the gatekeepers,” a phrase used by Poilievre.
The provincial Conservatives have also hired the communication director that Poilievre used for his 2022 leadership campaign.
On the NDP side, after federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh
said in September he’s against the Liberal government’s version of the consumer carbon tax, BC NDP Leader David Eby said he'd remove the provincial carbon tax if Ottawa didn’t require it by law.
As the federal Conservatives surge in the polls, the provincial New Democrats are fighting in the courts to make the ballot say “BC Conservative” rather than just “Conservative Party.” Elections B.C. opposes the NDP application.
The provincial NDP is also following the strategy of its federal cousin in portraying the party as having compassion for the everyday citizen, while painting opponents as being beholden to corporate interests.
Culture Wars
When it comes to social issues, the B.C. election campaign could be ground zero, with pundits watching to see if it has a significant impact on federal election results.“British Columbia, at least in recent history, has not really had social issues come to the fore as divisive in the context of provincial elections,” Sanjay Jeram, senior lecturer in political science at the Simon Fraser University, said in an interview.
The NDP campaign team has
been releasing videos of Conservative Leader John Rustad commenting on issues such as vaccine mandates and eating bugs in an effort to show him as an extremist, with Eby
saying Rustad is “still anti-vaxxer.” Rustad had
said that vaccine mandates are about controlling the population and that he regrets getting three shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. On a separate occasion, while commenting on cricket-based protein production, he said that “we should not be expecting our kids to eat bugs.”
While the attack campaigns have been heavier on the NDP side in this cycle, Rustad has referred to Eby as a “communist,” and contrasted his own response to an
Oct. 7 incident where activists in Vancouver burned the Canadian flag and said they stand with terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas. Rustad, who immediately issued a statement condemning the incident and said he'd deport terrorist supporters,
said Eby’s response wasn’t strong because he wants to court the support of radicals. Eby had said in reaction to the incident on social media that “This kind of hateful rhetoric is wrong and has no place in our province.”
The two leaders have also clashed on sexual orientation and gender identity content in schools.
Housing, Affordability Top of Mind
But for the electorate, the main focus of this election so far has been the cost of living.A Sept. 30 Leger
poll said that housing affordability was seen as the most important issue by voters, followed by health care, inflation, and the economy.
Another Oct. 4
poll by Research Co. ranked housing, homelessness, and poverty as the issue deemed most important by voters, with about 40 percent of respondents pointing to these issues, followed by health care (19 percent), and economy and jobs (18 percent).
In its
election platform, the NDP says it will help residents address affordability with an income tax rebate of $500 for individuals and $1,000 for households, and
provide 40 percent financing of the price of homes for first-time buyers. The party also intends to tackle health-care issues by expanding the role of pharmacists and physician assistants and implement other measures to reduce wait times and expand capacity.
On the economy, the NDP announced several measures to boost the forestry and mining sectors, including developing union training programs for skill development, funds to develop wood manufacturing facilities, and partnering with industries to attract investment. The party also said it intends to make B.C. a “clean-energy superpower” by expanding renewable energy generation.
The Conservatives announced
plans to tackle homeowner and rental affordability in the form of a $1,500 a month
tax exemption on housing costs, starting with the 2026 budget. The amount will increase by $500 per year until it reaches $3,000. On health care, the party intends to focus on removing the “burden of bureaucratic bloat,” and change the health centre funding model to be activity-based.
Rustad has also said his party will
boost the economy by focusing on developing the resource and forestry sectors, reducing regulation by at least 25 percent, eliminating spending on “non-essential programs,” and reducing small business tax to 1 percent. The party
says it will focus on developing manufacturing in the province by reducing taxes and addressing the shortage of industrial land, and allow for more LNG plants in the province.
