Election 2024: Campaign Roundup - Day 8

Welcome to Day 8 of our British Columbia 2024 Campaign Roundup!

With the 2024 BC election now finally underway, we'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

As always, our work is entirely funded by donations from British Columbians just like you, so if you appreciate the updates, please consider making a one-off donation or signing up as a supporter for just $10 a month - that's just 36 cents per email!

Campaign Roundup - Day 8:

• It’s Saturday, but candidates were still out campaigning! Baltej Singh Dhillon, BC NDP Candidate for Surrey-Serpentine River, met supporters at a local South Asian women's community group, while Chris Sankey, BC Conservative Candidate for North Coast - Haida Gwaii, chatted with a young future voter at the doors.
  
  
• BC Conservative Leader John Rustad held a press conference to reveal his “Grown In BC” plan to boost local food production and strengthen local agriculture. The party plans to scrap the carbon tax, provide tax relief for small farmers renting land, establish a microloan program to help farmers purchase equipment, and support increased access to temporary labour.
  
  
• The BC Conservatives also announced a plan to increase the supply of housing. They said that if cities do not issue rezoning and development permits within 6 months, or building permits within 3 months, the Province will step in and issue them. They also committed to ending “over-regulation by activist city planners”, as well as creating a Civic Infrastructure Renewal Fund to provide $1 billion per year to municipalities that allow small-scale, multi-unit housing on two-thirds of their residential land.
  
  
• Pavneet Singh, former BC United Candidate for Kelowna - Lake Country - Coldstream chose to end his campaign as an unaffiliated candidate. He suggested that continuing his campaign may have caused vote splitting, resulting in an NDP Candidate winning the seat, and for that reason, has chosen to endorse Tara Armstrong, the BC Conservative Candidate in the riding.
  
  
• On the last day of nominations, the BC Libertarian Party announced two more candidates. Lewis Dahlby in Port Coquitlam and Damyn Tassie in Surrey - White Rock join Alex Joehl, who is running in Langley - Abbotsford. You can read more about the Libertarian Party’s platform here.
  
  
• The list of candidates is now final. There are several parties represented - the BC NDP, the BC Conservatives, the BC Greens, the BC Libertarian Party, the Communist Party of BC, the Christian Heritage Party of BC, and the Freedom Party of BC - as well as Independent and unaffiliated candidates. You can view the full list online.

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