British Columbia’s party leaders spent Friday, the final day of the B.C. campaign, trading their sharpest attacks of the snap election, as NDP Leader David Eby branded interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson a “Trojan horse” for extremists and Doerkson fired back in Eby’s own Vancouver riding.
Eby closes with warning about who stands behind Doerkson
Eby’s closing argument asked voters to look past Doerkson, a former B.C. Liberal first elected in Cariboo-Chilcotin, to the party standing behind him. The New Democrats pointed throughout the campaign to Conservative candidates dropped over online remarks, including one who said a car that drove through a pro-Palestine protest “should have reversed” over demonstrators, and to campaign director Katy Merrifield, who kept her job after a social media post denouncing Islam. Eby had demanded Doerkson fire Merrifield; at the leaders’ debate, Doerkson confirmed she was staying, saying she had acted in a moment of trauma and apologized.
The NDP also argued voters cannot be sure Doerkson would remain premier if the Conservatives won: the party constitution bars an interim leader from taking the job permanently without a two-thirds membership vote, a step the party says its board will pursue.
Eby paired the attack with his government’s closing pitch on health care, warning a Conservative government would pay for its promises with cuts to the system. On Thursday he promised to put minimum nurse-to-patient ratios into law and add 1,000 training places for nurses and other health workers. Earlier in the campaign he appealed directly to Green voters, saying the damage from a Conservative government “would last for generations, and some of it would be impossible to undo.”
Doerkson calls the attack ‘absurd’ and promises change
Doerkson took his final-day message into Eby’s riding of Vancouver-Point Grey, where he called the premier’s characterization of him “absurd” and said he is committed to serving as premier if the Conservatives form government.
The Conservative closing case has centred on change after a decade of NDP rule, with a tax break worth up to $1,000 for working British Columbians and a health plan pledging to keep rural emergency rooms and maternity wards open through a $50-million rural health emergency fund. The party has accused the NDP of fearmongering on health care and says patients would keep receiving insured care with their health cards.
Responding to Eby’s appeal to Green voters, the Conservatives said he called the election because he saw an opportunity for himself. “What he handed British Columbians is an opportunity for change,” the statement said. “Three weeks later, he is begging other parties’ voters to save him from his own record. That is what desperation looks like.”
Greens pitch the balance of power on the final day of the B.C. campaign
Green Leader Emily Lowan closed by asking voters to give her party the balance of power in what polls suggest will be a closely divided legislature. Lowan has said that if the Greens hold that position, her top priority would be proportional representation, “a voting system where we’re not caught between lesser evils.” In an interview with CTV on the eve of the vote, she indicated she would lean toward supporting the NDP again if her party held the balance of power, as the Greens did after the 2024 election.
Lowan rejected Eby’s suggestion that the differences between the Greens and New Democrats are small. “David Eby called this snap election two years early,” she said. “Now, he is trying to scare British Columbians into voting for him.” She pointed to Pete Fry’s Green victory in Vancouver’s mayoral race last Saturday as evidence the province is ready to back her party.
CentreBC leader Elenore Sturko also pitched her party to voters seeking a middle option, calling it fiscally responsible, socially progressive and “a party for everyone.”
Conservatives lead the final polls heading into voting day
The last surveys of the campaign gave the Conservatives a narrow lead. An Ipsos poll conducted for Global BC from Oct. 20 to 22 put the Conservatives at 44 per cent among decided voters, the NDP at 39 and the Greens at 13, with 18 per cent still undecided. Research Co. had the race at 44 per cent to 40 per cent. Fifty-three per cent of respondents said it was time for a change of government, while Eby led Doerkson 30 to 23 per cent on who would make the best premier.
Advance voting closed Wednesday with 891,348 ballots cast — about 24 per cent of registered voters, down more than 11 per cent from the 2024 record. Polls are open Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time, and because of the snap call, most ballots cast on election day will be counted by hand, which could delay results in close ridings.
