Down to the wire: B.C. party leaders focus on key battlegrounds in final campaign hours

British Columbia’s provincial party leaders are spending their final few hours of campaigning with a focus on some key battlegrounds.

With election day Saturday, Conservative leader John Rustad held a rally at a loud and crowded banquet hall in Surrey on Thursday night.

Rustad hammered hard on previous promises to expand health care in the city — including a new children’s hospital — along with expanding SkyTrain service to Newton, new plans for a bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel, and improving public safety.

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Rustad received cheers for saying a Conservative government would eliminate SOGI 123 in B.C. classrooms — resources for teachers meant to create safer and more inclusive schools for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

“We need to make sure our education system is doing the right thing for our students. We have seen a decline in reading and arithmetic marks, we are seeing university professors who say kids are not prepared for the future,” he told the crowd of supporters.

“We need to change this. We need to make sure we get back to having letter grades, we have to make sure our education system teaches kids how to think, not what to think. We’ve got to make sure there’s a focus on building a future for kids and that’s why we need to get things like SOGI out of our schools.”

There were also cheers and applause when Rustad suggested Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry would not be welcome under a Conservative government and neither would vaccine mandates for health care workers.

Rustad spoke in North Vancouver Friday, taking the opportunity to get in some last-minute digs at his competition.

“It’s strange to see that David Eby is out there campaigning against who he is,” he said.

“He’s out there, unfortunately, he’s out there spreading nothing but lies and… disinformation about who we are, but that’s OK.”

He emphasized his party’s stance on drugs and crime and also touched on the high cost of living driving young people out of B.C.

“One in two youth are thinking about leaving this province,” he said.

“I think any parent would want their children to be able to stay here and build a future. That is what our goal is.”

NDP Leader David Eby was in Coquitlam and also North Vancouver Friday morning.

Eby’s address was a last-ditch pitch to voters to remind them of what his party has done while in office, and what he and his party is committing to do to “support you with the cost of daily life.”

“Throughout this campaign, and [while in government, we have] been about making sure that we deliver for you and your family on the things that matter to you. We know that people are struggling out there. We see you, we hear you. We know that life is more expensive for you,” Eby said as rain poured down.

“We’re going to make sure the car insurance, hydro rates, and child care, remain affordable for you and your family. There’s a huge risk in this election. I’ve talked to so many people, and they all tell me the same thing. They say they don’t want to wake up on Sunday morning and see ‘premier’ John Rustad disassembling the public services we depend on; disassembling and cutting our health care system; turning back progress on housing; handing people over to speculators; handing vulnerable seniors over to unconstrained rent increases that they can’t afford,” he claimed.

Eby pointed to his party’s slate of candidates that “represent our communities with pride.”

“They don’t have to hide from the media. They’re not promoting racist points of view. They’re not promoting conspiracy theories. They’re not pretending to be doctors when they aren’t,” he said.

BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau made a morning climate announcement in Victoria and is canvassing and sign-waving through the afternoon.

She says her party is the only one to provide any serious solutions to the climate crisis.

“We’re focused on wellbeing. We’ve offered a vision for a healthier, and more sustainable British Columbia. We’ve offered concrete solutions for homelessness, for affordable housing, for health care,” said Furstenau Friday.

She’s promising mental health support for people affected by climate disasters — including clean air and cooling centres, and free public transit to reduce emissions.

Furstenau came out swinging at both rival parties, whom she says have failed to come up with serious responses to the issues facing B.C.

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