Election 2026: Campaign Roundup - Day 18

Welcome to Day 18 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.

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 18:

• BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson has announced a seniors’ care plan that includes reversing changes to the property-tax deferment program, expanding long-term-care capacity and providing portable public funding for seniors waiting for beds. The plan also proposes expanding publicly funded home care, growing HandyDART services, offering free shingles vaccinations, and helping low-income seniors afford hearing aids. Doerkson says the measures would give seniors more choice and help them remain independent as they age.
  
  
• The BC Conservatives have launched a new ad featuring leader Lorne Doerkson, focused on leadership, affordability, and economic growth. The party says a Conservative government would speed up project approvals, reduce red tape, attract investment, and help British Columbians keep more of what they earn.
  
  
• BC NDP Leader David Eby has announced a health-care plan that includes 20 additional team-based primary care clinics, expanded evening and weekend appointments, and an accelerated training program for qualified international medical graduates already living in BC. The plan also includes 1,000 additional training seats for health-care workers and financial incentives to recruit professionals to underserved rural communities. The NDP says more than one million people have been connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner under its government, with the primary-care attachment rate rising from 74% to 80% over the past two years. Eby also criticized the BC Conservatives’ proposed tax cuts, claiming they would create a $3-billion annual budget shortfall and force health-care cuts.
  
  
• OneBC is considering legal action after Elections BC listed several candidates as unaffiliated rather than under the party banner, including James Yaroshuk in Surrey-Guildford and Denis R. Hurtubise in Surrey South. The party attributed the issue to paperwork technicalities, while Yaroshuk said he would continue campaigning as an independent while the party pursues a possible resolution. Elections BC’s decision also affected candidates in Peace River South and Port Coquitlam, while a candidate in Burnaby North was successfully listed under the OneBC banner.
  
  
• A new Angus Reid Institute poll has examined what British Columbians like and dislike about the two main party leaders. The poll found that 78% of respondents could identify something they disliked about NDP Leader David Eby, with 24% citing dishonesty or broken promises and 20% describing him as a weak or ineffective leader. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson was less familiar to voters, with 31% unable to name something they liked about him and 29% unable to identify something they disliked. Among those who had formed an impression of Doerkson, 14% cited his conservative values, a desire for change, or perceived honesty positively, while others raised concerns about his ideology, experience, and the party’s positions on social issues.

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