New Democrat Leader David Eby is making a late appeal to voters to support the party even if they never have before, as the British Columbia election campaign enters it final days.
Eby said Tuesday there hasn鈥檛 been an election as significant 鈥渇or a generation,鈥� on the day John Rustad鈥檚 rival B.C. Conservative Party is poised to release its costed platform and just four days before election day on Saturday.
鈥淭his is an incredibly close election,鈥� Eby said at a news conference at a housing construction project in Surrey. 鈥淓very vote is going to count, right cross the province.鈥�
Elections BC says about 597,000 people have already voted in four days of advance polling.
Eby stood at the constuction site with a sign in the background parodying anti-NDP political billboards put up outside the home of Vancouver billionaire Chip Wilson during the campaign.
鈥淛ohn Rustad will give tax breaks to billionaires and speculators, that鈥檚 why they are making signs,鈥� said the NDP billboard.
Eby鈥檚 Surrey stop focused on the NDP鈥檚 two major themes during the campaign - housing and attacking Rustad鈥檚 B.C. Conservatives, especially what it has depicted as conspiratorial views of the leader himself and several of his candidates.
Eby focused Tuesday on Surrey-South B.C. Conservative candidate Brent Chapman, whose social media posts about Palestinians, residential schools and mass shootings at a Quebec mosque and the Sandy Hook school in the U.S. have surfaced during the campaign.
鈥淛ust when I thought we had hit the bottom in terms of the conduct of Conservative candidates, the open racism, the hate for women, the hate for Indigenous people, Muslims, people who are gay, I could go on,鈥� he said. 鈥淏rent Chapman, the Conservative candidate for Surrey-South, takes it a step further.鈥�
In a 2017 post by Chapman about mass shootings he said: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry but all the recent 鈥榤ass shooting events鈥� have some other things in common: they all happened in the last eight years, they all have sketchy stories that change drastically.鈥�
He mentioned the 鈥淎urora, Sandy Hook and Quebec City鈥� shootings and says 鈥淚 really hope no one was actually killed at any of these events.鈥�
Chapman explained his post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday by saying that what he had been 鈥渢rying to say is the whirlwind of US media and commentary makes everything chaotic and confusing.鈥�
Rustad has refused calls to drop Chapman as a candidate.
Eby asked voters 鈥渉ow would you feel鈥� to wake up on Oct. 20 to a B.C. Conservative government that included 鈥渉ateful鈥� candidates and policies that he says will be 鈥渄riving up your costs in every possible way.鈥�
鈥淔or people who share the values of strong public services, of growing the economy while protecting the environment, of prioritizing and valuing science, whether it鈥檚 vaccine science or climate science, and that our kids get access to those materials in our classrooms as they learn about our world, I鈥檓 asking people to stick together and to think very carefully about where they place their X on that ballot,鈥� he said.
Rustad has said he would eliminate the provincial carbon tax and exempt up to $3,000 a month in rent or mortgage payments from income taxes, while eliminating the provincial deficit within two terms of government.
The NDP and the Green Party have already released costed platforms that both forecast adding about $2.9 billion to the deficit in their first years.
The Greens say their platform would increase the province鈥檚 deficit by about $1.5 billion in its third year, while the NDP has said theirs would do so by an almost identical amount by 2026-2027.
B.C. budget deficit is projected to be a record $9 billion this year.
Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said Tuesday that Rustad and his Conservatives are 鈥渘ot serious enough to govern鈥� and they 鈥渄o not deserve the kind of support they鈥檙e getting right now.鈥�
Furstenau said it鈥檚 鈥渓aughable鈥� the Conservatives have taken so long to release their costed election platform.
