British Columbia Minute: Issue 134

British Columbia Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of British Columbia politics.

📅 This Week In British Columbia: 📅

• Analysts say the outcome of Saturday's provincial election could come down to how the Greens, OneBC, and CentreBC perform in a handful of tight races, as the NDP and Conservatives work to limit vote-splitting. A Leger poll put the Conservatives at 42% among decided voters, the NDP at 40%, the Greens at 9%, OneBC at 4%, and CentreBC at 3%. Since Leger's late-September poll, the Greens have dropped 4 points while the NDP gained 4 and the Conservatives gained three points. According to the poll, 37% of Green voters would vote NDP if there were no Green candidate in their riding, while 60% of OneBC supporters would vote Conservative if there were no OneBC candidate.
  
  
• A memo from the Office of the Premier dated December 11th, 2025, obtained by CTV News, shows the provincial government expected the cost of the Massey Tunnel replacement to double from its original $4.15-billion budget to $8.5 billion. Despite this, the February 2026 provincial budget continued to list the Fraser River Tunnel Project at about $4.15 billion, noting the estimate was being updated, and the Province did not publicly announce the revised $8.5-billion estimate until July 2026. The memo, prepared as BC sought a federal contribution of $4.25 billion, cited rising material and service costs, a lengthy environmental assessment, and the expense of specialized marine equipment, and pushed expected completion from 2030 to 2031. Conservative Surrey-White Rock candidate Trevor Halford says the higher figure should have been in the budget and accused Premier David Eby of trying to mislead British Columbians. Eby says the cost had not been finalized while the government assessed bids, which he claims are coming in significantly lower than the original costing. The tunnel on Highway 99 serves more than 80,000 vehicles a day.
  
  
• NDP Leader David Eby is defending his family's use of a $10-a-day child care space, in a program that covers only about 10% of BC's licensed spaces and that his government has stopped expanding. Asked at a town hall in Delta, Eby confirmed his family's centre is one of the program's partners. He says one of his children was already attending when the centre joined the program and that the family chose to donate the difference, and an NDP spokesperson said that the family has donated $3,200 since the switch and will reach about $8,000 by the end of the year. Eby would not say whether the donations were claimed as a tax deduction. Conservative Vancouver-Yaletown candidate Margareta Dovgal said Eby's family "landed a plum $10-a-day child care spot" while families struggle with the most expensive child care in the country, and the Conservatives are demanding proof of the donations. Sharon Gregson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC says the bigger issue is that expansion of the $10-a-day system has stalled.
  
  
• Canadian softwood lumber now faces combined US import taxes of almost 35% after the latest review by the US Department of Commerce, according to the BC Lumber Trade Council. The total is down from the combined rate of 45% announced in August 2025. It is made up of countervailing duties of 14.11%, an anti-dumping rate of 10.64%, and an additional 10% tariff that US President Donald Trump imposed on national security grounds. Kim Haakstad, the Council's Interim President, says its members are disappointed that producers still face unjustified and punitive trade measures, and that the dispute has dragged on for nearly a decade, putting pressure on forest-dependent communities. She says American families are also paying a price, as trade barriers have driven up the cost of building homes in the US.
  
  
• Finally, in the municipal elections that have been overshadowed by the snap provincial election, voters across BC ousted a long list of incumbent mayors on Saturday. In Vancouver, the Vancouver Green Party's Pete Fry defeated Mayor Ken Sim by more than 22,000 votes to become Canada's first Green mayor, and Sim's ABC Vancouver party was wiped out on the park board and the school board. In Surrey, 82-year-old Doug McCallum beat Mayor Brenda Locke to take the job for a third time, and his Safe Surrey Coalition will hold a majority on council with six seats. Incumbent mayors also lost in West Vancouver, New Westminster, the Township of Langley, the City of Langley, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Prince George, and Delta. Political analyst Hugh Chan described the results as "a huge anti-incumbent wave" and said angry voters may also turn on the provincial government in the October 24th provincial election.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

British Columbians vote in the provincial election on Saturday, and advance voting continues through Wednesday for anyone who would rather vote early. Make a plan to cast your ballot, and encourage your family and friends to do the same!

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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