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VANCOUVER — British Columbia's political party leaders have spent the 28-day provincial election campaign wooing voters with promises on critical issues including health care, housing, the cost of living and the environment.

Here is a look at some of the top promises made by each major party ahead of election day on Saturday:

NDP

— Leader David Eby says his party's housing plan will build 300,000 more homes for the middle class. There's also a pledge to increase the speculation and vacancy tax on empty homes to one per cent for residents of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and three per cent for foreign owners starting in 2025. The NDP says they will prioritize building homes on public land.

— On the campaign trail, Eby has promised that the NDP will exempt $10,000 of individual income from taxes every year, which translates to an annual tax reduction of about $1,000 for most households and $500 for individuals.

— Eby has promised a re-elected NDP government will open involuntary-care facilities for those with overlapping addictions, mental illness, and brain injuries.

— Eby also promised the NDP will scrap sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s long-standing consumer carbon tax if the federal government drops its requirement for the tax, and will instead shift the burden to "big polluters."

— The NDP says they will increase job-protected leave to 27 weeks from the current eight days for people with a major medical diagnosis such as cancer.

— The NDP aims to attract more health-care workers with a new program forgiving the tuition loans of health professionals in return for a long-term sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ residency guarantee. They've also promised immediate provisional licences for Canadian-trained care providers and licences within six weeks for qualified foreign applicants from other approved places.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Conservatives

— Leader John Rustad is promising the "Rustad Rebate," a plan to exempt rent or mortgage interest costs from income taxes, beginning at $1,500 per month in the 2026 budget and increasing to $3,000 by 2029. His party is calling it the "largest housing tax cut in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s history."

— The Conservatives are pledging publicly funded "partnerships" with non-governmental health clinics and a wait time guarantee for some surgical procedures that would see patients sent outside the province for faster care. They are also promising to build a new children's hospital in Surrey, featuring a pediatric emergency room and intensive care unit, a maternity ward and a women's health centre.

— Rustad has promised to end the Insurance Corporation of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s monopoly on car insurance and open the market to other providers to lower prices for consumers, while modifying ICBC's no-fault insurance model to make it easier for people with life-altering injuries to seek redress in the courts.

— Rustad promised to scrap the provincial carbon tax completely.

— Rustad said he will return 20 per cent of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½â€™s forests to First Nations, replace the current stumpage system with an end-product tax, and streamline the permitting process for the forest sector.

— The Conservatives have pledged to bring back plastic straws and cutlery, and eliminate mandatory fees for grocery bags.

Green Party

— The party, under leader Sonia Furstenau, is promising to maintain the carbon tax with or without a federal mandate. Furstenau has also vowed to introduce a "windfall profits tax" on oil and gas companies, and redirect revenue from industrial carbon pricing to fund community climate action.

— The Greens' health plans include up to six visits to a mental health professional, such as a psychologist, under the Medical Services Plan. They promise to regulate the psychotherapy professions.

— The Greens are promising to provide $1.5 billion annually to construct 26,000 new units of non-market housing each year.

— Furstenau says her party's platform is aimed at people's "well-being" and includes a promise to create frameworks to measure sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s social and environmental performance instead of using GDP as the standard measurement.

— Furstenau says her party will increase social and disability insurance and "wraparound support" for youth aging out of care to combat poverty.

— The Greens promise to invest in climate action, renewable energy and infrastructure, including $650 million annually for municipal infrastructure to support new housing and $250 million to expand child care.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

Ashley Joannou and Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press