SURREY, sa国际传媒 鈥� New Democrat Leader David Eby kicked off his British Columbia election campaign a day early on Friday, pointing the party's campaign bus straight to the Metro Vancouver city of Surrey, where both the New Democrats and sa国际传媒 Conservatives are expected to spend much time in the key battleground.
The fixed election date of Oct. 19 means the campaign doesn't officially start until Saturday.
About 75 supporters greeted Eby as he stopped at a family corn and onion farm just off Highway 10, where a barbecue was underway.
鈥淚t is wonderful to be here with you in Surrey, with all these families, with my family here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so excited to be starting the campaign right here in the beautiful City of Surrey.鈥�
Eby said he will be 鈥渓aser focused鈥� on issues of priority for people, including affordable housing and keeping rates low for car insurance, electricity and child care.
He said he started his campaign in Surrey because the city represents the challenges facing the province, including a growing population, service pressures, housing costs and affordability overall.
鈥淚n many ways Surrey is the epicentre of the challenges we face," said Eby.
Eby boarded the bus on Friday in downtown Vancouver with his infant daughter, Gwen, in a baby carrier, accompanied by his wife, Dr. Cailey Lynch and their two other children.
His NDP-orange campaign bus is covered in photos of people, with Eby standing in the centre, along with slogans that say, "action for you," "homes you can afford," and "better health care."
Both sa国际传媒 Conservative Leader John Rustad and Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau spoke to municipal leaders at the annual Union of sa国际传媒 Municipalities Convention in Vancouver on Friday, just as Eby was launching his election campaign.
Rustad told delegates that he would get rid of the carbon tax and the low carbon fuel emissions standard, saying the moves would improve affordability.
"It's making us uncompetitive. It's a huge cost structure, and the Conservative Party of British Columbia is committed to getting rid of those costs and returning that money back to people to be able to deal with the affordability," he said.
His statement comes just a week after David Eby said that if Ottawa dropped the legal requirement for carbon pricing, then his New Democrat government would also drop the tax on consumers.
Furstenau told reporters after her speech that the other party leaders are offering "a lot of fear and a lot of anger and a lot of finger pointing."
She said a minority government would mean "built-in accountability" for the party in power.
"We have a real opportunity in British Columbia in this election to not give any party all of the power, to not have a winner-take-all outcome," she said. "We see when we have majority governments in this province, they do not deliver on what they promise, but they do a whole bunch of things that they didn't promise, and they do it without being able to be held accountable by the legislature or by the people of sa国际传媒"
Furstenau said there is a disconnect between what the other provincial leaders are promising on carbon pricing and what municipalities are experiencing.
"We hear from elected representatives about the ongoing and incredibly expensive impacts of climate change-driven events. We cannot at this point backtrack on the idea that carbon pollution doesn't cost us. It costs us enormously."
Eby spoke to local politicians on Thursday, as they presented a laundry list of concerns for the provincial government at the meeting, from homelessness to the overdose crisis and more funding to support growing pressures on municipalities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press
