B.C. campaign trail: Date for leaders’ debate is set

Here’s a look at the some of the latest developments on the British Columbia election campaign trail.

DEBATE DATE SET FOR NDP, CONSERVATIVE, GREEN LEADERS

A date has been set for the only live and televised leaders’ debate in the British Columbia provincial election.

The broadcast consortium, including CBC, Global and CTV, says in a joint release that the debate will take place on Oct. 14, 10 days before the election, at a location yet to be announced.

The debate will include New Democrat Leader David Eby, interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson and Green Leader Emily Lowan, with OneBC’s Dallas Brodie and CentreBC’s Elenore Sturko not involved.

The consortium says the criteria for a party leader to qualify for the debate was agreed upon by all its members, but it did not immediately respond to a request for details.

CONSERVATIVES ISSUE PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN

Interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson has announced his party’s plan to improve public safety by cracking down on visible street crime, targeting the production of fentanyl, and improving access to mental health care, including involuntary care. 

The party is pledging to hire and deploy 250 more police by expanding the Justice Institute of B.C. Police Academy, while adding 500 RCMP officers and 150 civilian staff over five years in rural and regional communities “where crime is rampant.”

“Our streets belong to families and small businesses, not to drug dealers and disorder,” Doerkson says in a news release.

“A Conservative government will hire hundreds more police and prosecutors, give officers the power to enforce the law, and take back our streets.”

NDP MAKES HEALTH PLEDGES

The list of health-care related promises grew on Tuesday during NDP Leader David Eby’s stop in Coquitlam. 

He says his party will reduce wait-times for scans and surgeries by adding eight new MRIs and 10 CT scanners, if re-elected. 

Eby says his party would also attract more specialists to run the additional machinery and invest in robotic-assisted surgery.

The leader also says that his party would allow people to access surgical care anywhere in the region through co-ordinated regional wait-lists. 

ONEBC SAYS CHAPMAN AND FINDLAY FACED ‘THREATS’

OneBC says former Conservative legislator Brent Chapman and his wife, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, have been subjected to a “torrent of threats and abuse from insiders” in the lead-up to the election. 

Chapman announced last month he was joining OneBC to run as a candidate in the election after Findlay resigned as the Conservative party leader amid a caucus revolt.

But Chapman’s name wasn’t on the final list of candidates released Sunday by Elections BC, and OneBC says in a statement that the party and Chapman mutually decided he wouldn’t run in Surrey South. 

The statement says OneBC was excited to have Chapman join the team but the “strains of the last few months have been enormous.” 

Findlay resigned as Conservative leader just days before NDP Leader David Eby called the snap election.

Her resignation came less than four months after winning the party leadership, and OneBC’s statement says “strong conservative values” are not acceptable to the appointed leaders of the rival Conservatives.   

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2026.