Election 2026: Campaign Roundup - Day 13

Welcome to Day 13 of our British Columbia 2026 Campaign Roundup!

We're bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

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Campaign Roundup - Day 13:

• The BC Conservatives are facing questions over informal talks with OneBC. Former Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, now leader of CentreBC, accused the Conservatives of “cozying up to the far right,” while Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson said there had been “nothing formal” and that all 93 Conservative candidates are running to win. OneBC has publicly offered to avoid running candidates in certain ridings to prevent splitting the conservative vote.
  
  
• The BC Conservatives are criticizing David Eby over his unfulfilled $1,000 grocery rebate promise from the 2024 election. They note that Eby promised BC families $1,000 a year for groceries, then scrapped the program four months after the election, and is now asking voters to trust a new round of promises.
  
  
• The BC Greens released a plan to support seniors, citing rising demand for housing, home care and long-term care in BC. The plan would raise income thresholds for the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program to $48,000 for individuals and $53,000 for couples, introduce vacancy control in assisted living, expand home support and respite care, and develop a plan for more publicly funded long-term care facilities. The Greens also proposed a dementia care pathway and a rural seniors strategy.
  
  
• The BC NDP used the candidate deadline to attack Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson over several controversial statements and positions attributed to Conservative candidates. The NDP said Doerkson declined to remove candidates on statements around COVID-19 vaccines, January 6th, climate change, Pride flags, and Western Canadian separation.
  
  
• Speaking of the candidate deadline, Elections BC has finalized the candidate list for the October 24th provincial election, with 355 candidates running across the province. The BC Conservatives are the only party with a full slate of 93 candidates, while the NDP is running 92 after failing to finalize a candidate in Peace River North; the Greens have 73, CentreBC 35, and OneBC 33. This compares with 322 candidates in the 2024 election.

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