B.C. Election 2026: 12 hot topics and where each party stands

Wondering who to vote for in the 2024 B.C. election? Here are brief summaries of where the B.C. NDP, Conservative Party of B.C., Green party of B.C., CentreBC and OneBC stand on 12 major issues based on campaign promises made before Oct. 15 and information provided to Postmedia.

NDP: Campaign promises to: stop price markups on groceries like dairy and poultry. Combined with other promises, NDP says this could save families up to $700 per year on food. NDP promises to suspend 10 cents per litre of the provincial gas tax and crack down on “corporate price gouging,” possibly saving $20 per tank. The party says it will freeze ICBC insurance rates for three years.

Conservatives: Campaign promises to remove the PST, and therefore lower prices, from Canadian alcohol during the U.S. trade war. The party says it wants to let residents keep more of the money they earn: “Our platform will deliver meaningful relief, control government costs and cut the taxes, regulations and delays that drive up the price of homes and other essentials.”

Greens: Campaign promises to raise government assistance rates, develop a poverty elimination plan, and try to address food insecurity by protecting local farmland. The party also vows to fund social housing, expand affordable daycare, protect tenants from big rent hikes, deliver “fast, free” transit, and ensure good wages for workers “by making it easier to join and form a union.”

CentreBC: Campaign promises to roll back the lowest income tax rate, for those who make less than $50,363, from 5.6 per cent to 5.06 per cent, “saving a two-income family about $540 a year.” It vows to raise the tax credit for low-income renters from $400 to $600, cap B.C. Hydro increases at inflation, and hold ICBC rates at or below inflation through 2030.

OneBC: The party promises to reduce B.C.’s seven per cent PST by two per cent to lower the price of most goods and services. It argues its other policies, such as major income tax and corporate tax cuts, will strengthen the economy and therefore lower the cost of living. “We need a productivity boom to help British Columbian families,” it says.

NDP: Campaign promises to increase the speculation and vacancy tax with a goal of turning empty condos into rentals, and to use the revenue to build affordable homes. NDP also promises to create an “unsold condo tax” on new units empty for a year to crack down on developers waiting until prices rise to sell. NDP argues for re-election because housing and rental prices have fallen.

Conservatives: No major campaign promise on housing yet. The party says: “Our platform will make it faster and less expensive to bring homes to market by tackling the full cost of delivery, from land and approvals, to construction and the charges buyers pay. We will work with municipalities to match growth with infrastructure and services.” No details have been released yet.

Greens:Campaign promises to restart a provincial fund that financed rental homes, aiming to build and protect 26,000 units a year; prohibit landlords from “excessively” hiking rent for tenants; and end pet bans in rentals. The party leader, a renter, wants to give tenants and non-profits the first option to buy rental apartment buildings to try to increase non-market housing.

CentreBC: Campaign promises to build homes faster with new housing-approval standards by 2028; to double the B.C. Builds program to produce 20,000 below-market homes by 2031. It also promises to cut development cost charges in half for below-market projects and a $240-million “growth fund” for cities, for “savings up to $40,000 a home.” It promises to boost renters’ annual tax credit to $600.

OneBC: The party vows to eliminate the B.C. Energy Step Code, which sets energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings to lower greenhouse-gas emissions, arguing the code has increased construction costs “with unnecessary green requirements.” It also promises to “block rent control programs that disincentivize development and new units being put up for rent.”

NDP: Campaign promises interest-free loans up to $1 million for businesses hit by U.S. tariffs, and a new $5,000 tax credit for companies hiring young adults for their first full-time jobs. NDP also promises to expand the shipbuilding industry; $60-million permanent funding for the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund; and to set requirements for public infrastructure projects to use more B.C.-made materials.

Conservatives: Campaign promises a “first job tax credit” to encourage businesses to hire young people, and to “supercharge” the economy by: cutting PST on equipment and software for businesses for three years; creating a panel to recommend simplifying B.C.’s taxes and attract investment; cutting “red tape” that’s impeding business; creating a “red tape reduction” ministry.

Greens: Campaign promises to grow tourism jobs and revenue by increasing annual funding for B.C. parks and trails by 50 per cent — to $114 million — to boost access and maintenance; creating a $30 million fund to improve trails and campsites; funding for employee housing in tourism-dependent areas. The party also promises strong regional economies by making it easier for local businesses to succeed.

CentreBC: Campaign promises to double investment in B.C.’s Manufacturing Jobs Fund to $60 million annually and to expand the scope of the program for industrial projects, with new streams for companies that build prefabricated homes, make mass timber or other wood products, and process and store local food. Expansion of this program would slow if plans to cut the deficit hit a setback.

OneBC: The party says it will create a “productivity boom” that starts with cutting income and corporate taxes by 25 per cent, arguing this was done in B.C. in 2001 and that led to a surplus budget by 2005. “The government’s role is not to create jobs, our role is to create a proper environment in which private business can thrive,” it says.

NDP: Campaign promises to triple recruitment of U.S. doctors and nurses; provide free shingles vaccines for those 50-plus; eight new MRI machines, 10 more CT scanners, and a streamlined the wait-list system; a new menopause clinic and new perinatal unit; and to clamp down on clinic user fees. It also promises a new tax bracket for those who earn $1 million to raise $1 billion annually for health spending.

Conservatives: Campaign promises to end ER and maternity closures through “more flexible staffing;” create a $50-million emergency fund for rural medical practices; hire and train more doctors and nurses, and tap experts to find solutions from other public care systems and report on wait times. The party vows not to cut any health services but hasn’t said where extra funding will come from.

Greens: Campaign promises to improve patient access to services and reduce ER visits by putting a “community health centre” in all 93 ridings, staffed with doctors or nurse practitioners, care providers like dietitians or physiotherapists, and administrators to take that burden off practitioners. It also promises to boost funding for nurses, prevent more privatization, and find cost savings from $3.8 billion in annual administrative health costs.

CentreBC: Campaign promises a family doctor or nurse practitioner team for everyone by December 2031; 600 new nurse practitioners by 2030; to double assessments of internationally trained doctors to 200 a year; to licence certain out-of-province doctors within 30 days; to phase out private agency nurses. Health spending is estimated at $1 billion a year, which the party says is costed in its platform.

OneBC: The party promises to allow more private sector, pay-for-service options to exist alongside the publicly funded system. It also plans to review how money is being spent inside the public system, and to shift spending from administration and human resources to front line services.

NDP: Campaign promises to boost taxes on earnings above $190,405 with a two per cent tax increase for up to $1 million. It promises a new bracket of 24.5 per cent for salaries above $1 million, which will affect four per cent of B.C. income earners and raise $1 billion annually by 2028-29 for health care and other spending. No commitment to pay down the $13.8-billion deficit.

Conservatives: Campaign promises include to “never raise taxes.” When asked how to reduce the deficit with no tax hikes, the leader pointed to strengthening B.C.’s economy. The party vows to cut income tax by $1,000 annually for everyone making more than $40,000, a little less for lower incomes, and to not tax earnings under $32,000 — up from $13,216 today.

Greens: Campaign promises a one-time tax, ranging from five to 20 per cent, on “ultra-wealthy” residents worth more than $50 million to raise $22 billion. In the following years, there would be a smaller annual wealth tax of two to five per cent to raise $5 billion annually to fund universal child care, free transit, affordable housing and to reduce the debt and interest costs.

CentreBC: In addition to cutting tax in the lowest income bracket from 5.6 per cent to 5.06 per cent, the party pledges to not reinstate the consumer carbon tax. It promises a new “balanced budget and spending control” law requiring a shrinking deficit, from $13.3 billion in the first year to about $9 billion by 2030-31, with the budget balanced by 2034-35.

OneBC: Promises to slash tax in all income tax brackets by 25 per cent, to reduce corporate taxes by 25 per cent and to reduce the PST by 2 two per cent. The party says the tax cuts will play a major role in tackling the deficit because they “will create a productivity boom and stop individuals and businesses from fleeing the province for lower-tax jurisdictions.”

NDP: No campaign promises yet. When asked about education commitments, the party cited the new schools and hiring of more teachers, counsellors and education assistants while in government. It said it’s “committed to a universal, affordable child care system” and plans more centres on school grounds. But the party hasn’t fulfilled its 2016 promise of a universal $10-a-day system.

Conservatives: No campaign promises yet. The party vows to introduce a new anti-bullying program to ensure safe schools for all students, while repealing the “divisive” SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) program. On child care, it said: “We are committed to expanding quality, affordable options that fit parents’ work schedules, including qualified independent providers and meaningful parental choice.”

Greens: Campaign promises to increase per-pupil funding, arguing B.C. has the second lowest provincial rate; to divert government private schools funding to the public system; to hire more counsellors; to expand SOGI to support 2SLGBTQIA+ students; and to create a school food program. And to expand $10-a-day child care, planning to achieve universally free daycare by 2031 with higher pay for educators.

CentreBC: The party wants to boost reading and math skills, promising: math screening from kindergarten to Grade 3 by 2028, to hire 250 literacy and numeracy coaches, to restore letter grades to Grade 4 and up by 2028. It also promises to expand capacity by 25,000 more students by 2031 and 1,500 more education assistants. It vows 20,000 new $10-a-day child care spaces by 2030.

OneBC: Promises to reinstate standardized testing and letter grades; to scrap SOGI-123 and “remove sexually inappropriate content from our classrooms;” and to create a “parental bill of rights.” It said affordable daycare will be achieved with tax cuts. “We don’t need a government program for everything, families just need to keep more of their own money,” it said.

NDP: Campaign promises to double critical minerals and expand the Port of Prince Rupert to increase jobs and reduce reliance on the U.S.; to accelerate approvals for new mines; to fast-track North Coast Transmission Line; and to boost smelting and refining capacity. The party supports LNG Canada’s expansion in Kitimat, but made no statement about the proposed Pacific Link pipeline to B.C.’s south coast.

Conservatives: Campaign promises to create a “B.C. energy superpower plan” to double LNG production by 2032 and triple it by 2035 to generate new jobs, government revenue and supply during the global energy crisis. The party pledges less red tape and a stable royalty framework to foster industry growth. It also supports LNG Canada Phase 2 and the proposed Pacific Link pipeline.

Greens: Campaign promises to reform B.C.’s oil and gas royalty framework to collect 50 per cent of net profits, estimating it would more than triple the province’s projected 2027-28 natural-gas royalties to $4.09 billion, which would be used to fund a new climate action plan. It promises to end public policies that encourage fossil-fuel expansion and opposes the Pacific Link pipeline and LNG Canada Phase 2.

CentreBC: Party says it would add at least 2,000 megawatts to B.C. Hydro by 2033 and backs LNG projects, both with First Nations partners and a net-zero plan. It would make permit decisions on 10 mines by 2030 and keep industrial carbon pricing. It supports LNG Canada and other natural resource expansion, and backs the pipeline. It pledges an extra $60 million for skilled trades training.

OneBC: Party says it “takes a free market approach to energy development. We need a government that will partner with Alberta and Ottawa to encourage private sector investors to build more pipelines or other energy projects in British Columbia.” Its website says it would approve a pipeline to Prince Rupert or Kitimat to move Canadian energy to foreign markets.

NDP: Campaign promises to add 500 health care workers and expand virtual monitoring for seniors at home; more nurses, pharmacists and virtual consultations at care facilities to reduce hospital visits; and more teams to support discharged hospital patients at home. It also promises to build seven long-term care projects that were “paused” and $90 million for a health and seniors care centre in Oak Bay.

Conservatives: Campaign promises to reverse NDP’s changes to the property-tax deferment program to help low-income seniors stay in their homes. It also promises to cut “design rules” so more long-term-care beds can be built and to expand publicly funded home care and HandyDART. It promises free shingles vaccines and to help low-income seniors afford hearing aids. It promises tougher penalties for fraudsters and abusers of seniors.

Greens: Campaign promises to boost monthly rental assistance for low-income seniors; to protect seniors from rent increases and service-fee hikes at assisted living facilities; to create plans to expand publicly funded long-term care facilities and services in rural areas. It also promises more early screening for dementia and an improved care system; better access to respite care, day programs, and at-home care services.

CentreBC: The party pledges: to create 1.5 million more home-support hours a year, with home-support fees cut in half for low-income seniors, by 2029-30; and a new $400-a-month “B.C. caregiver benefit” for about 9,000 family caregivers. It also promises faster building of long-term care, with 1,000 new beds open and 2,500 under construction by March 2031.

OneBC: The party argues too much government spending goes to “back-office administration and human resources,” and that instead should go to frontline services like “senior care for day-to-day living” and hospital services. “We have the funding already to pay for all of this but money-allocation problems have plagued B.C.’s health care system,” it says.

NDP: No campaign promise. The party says it is “committed to working in partnership with Indigenous peoples to build a stronger future.” It says it has changed policies so Indigenous communities oversee child welfare, helping to keep youth connected to families and cultures; and that it has made partnerships with First Nations that are creating thousands of jobs and $130 billion in proposed projects.

Conservatives: No campaign promise. It would repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), and instead pursue reconciliation through a federal law that affirms Indigenous rights, “including the duty to consult and accommodate, while protecting private-property rights.” The party says its platform will address revenue sharing and equity ownership with First Nations.

Greens: Campaign promises to support DRIPA, by implementing it through legislation, and to fund public education to combat “misinformation.” The party also guarantees Indigenous language rights and would provide funding for language preservation and revitalization; create a task force to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous women and children; and improve the modern treaties process.

CentreBC: Party statement says it would repeal DRIPA and related provincial legislation, replacing them with “a new law built on negotiated treaties.” It commits $30 million a year to move treaty negotiations forward and settle overlapping claims, would take private land off the table, and put a homeowner guarantee in law. It wouldn’t change the duty to consult under federal law.

OneBC: Party would repeal DRIPA. It says in the “current rigged system” that Indigenous rights and land claims are overriding the public’s needs and property ownership. Its website calls for halting voluntary transfers of cash, land and resources to Indigenous governments; transforming reserves into townships; restoring English names of public landmarks; and ending land acknowledgments in public institutions.

NDP: Campaign promises to reduce street disorder and vandalism by doubling its two-year-old repeat-offending program; to expand the Civil Forfeiture Office to target more gang properties and vehicles; to hire 50 extra Crown prosecutors and create a new extortion, racketeering and gang violence unit. It also promises $500,000 annually for three years to strengthen security at Jewish schools and synagogues to combat antisemitism. 

Conservatives: Campaign pledges to send more police to hard-hit neighbourhoods; to increase psychiatric services and residential treatment; to empower officers to connect people with mandatory treatment; to train 250 more municipal cops; to add 500 RCMP officers and 150 civilian staff; to hire 50 new Crown prosecutors. It also promises an “anti-extortion action plan” with specialized investigators and support for victims, plus expanded electronic monitoring for parolees.

Greens: No campaign promise. The party says it will invest in affordable and supportive housing, peer-support programs, and staff training on cultural safety, de-escalation and harm reduction. It would offer “mental health crisis” as a fourth option for 911 calls, in addition to police, fire and ambulance. It would increase funding for voluntary treatment and resources for youth aging out of foster care.

CentreBC: The party pledges to deploy 500 more police and 60 more Crown prosecutors so cases aren’t lost to delay. Within 100 days, it would ask Ottawa to charge public drug users and repeat offenders and would strike an independent review of bail policy. It would launch “safe downtown” teams in 20 citeis by 2028; and open 1,000 supportive homes with on-site care and conduct rules.

OneBC: The party wants B.C. crown prosecutors to “prioritize prosecuting violent and repeat offenders and stop downgrading charges against violent offenders, which we have frequently seen occur under the BC NDP.” It also wants to protect ports from international criminal smuggling.

NDP: Campaign promises “consistent funding” for two Downtown Eastside centres that provide daytime shelter and support for unhoused people.  While conceding “we have a lot more work to do,” the party says it would build on its accomplishments, which it defines as: 860 new addiction treatment beds; cutting wait times for treatment; 2,000 involuntary care beds; 35 foundry centres for young people.

Conservatives: The party pledges “our platform will close gaps in care, pairing compassion with public safety,” but details haven’t been released yet. Its focus will be “timely treatment and sustained recovery” for people struggling with mental health and addictions. The party doesn’t support safe supply, but does promise more access to naloxone to reverse overdoses.

Greens: Campaign promises to provide pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic drugs to reduce fatal overdoses; to expand access to supervised-consumption sites, which must include inhalation spaces and connection to recovery and housing supports; and more supported housing and treatment option; to treat addition as a health issue by decriminalizing possession of drugs for personal use; ensure access to mental health services.

CentreBC: The party wants “treatment when people ask for it,” promising: treatment within 14 days, same-day detox for urgent cases by 2028, 650 more detox and treatment beds by 2030, 12 crisis centres beside ERs, counselling for 100,000 people a year. It also pledges more secure care for those too ill to keep themselves safe, with 130 more beds at Coquitlam’s Red Fish Healing Centre.

OneBC: The party wants to convert drug consumption sites to recovery sites, end safe supply programs and re-criminalize drug use. It also wants Riverview Hospital, a former mental health facility in Coquitlam, reopened for an involuntary drug detox program for the severely addicted.

NDP: Campaign promises to match Canadian Red Cross donations up to $20 million for people affected by wildfires, particularly the uninsured and underinsured, to recover and rebuild. It also pledges $50 million to permanently protect the rarest old-growth forests, and support mills to retrofit and make more value-added products with second growth trees. And proposes a $120 million forestry jobs protection fund.

Conservatives: Campaign promises to buy new firefighting aircraft, including waterbombers; to reduce “forest fuels” that can help fires spread in communities; to ease the approvals needed for controlled burns, a tool to reduce wildfire risk, without lowering safety standards. It also promises to remove red tape that slows qualified firefighting crews responding in emergencies; and to invest in early detection and prevention technologies.

Greens: Campaign promises funding for communities to assess and prepare for wildfires, flooding and other climate risks. It also promises to reform the forestry sector with more “sustainable harvest levels” than the NDP has set, to end raw-log exports so more wood is processed here, to end logging in old growth and large second-growth forests, and to protect the ecology of forests.

CentreBC: Party says it will more than double funding for B.C.’s FireSmart program to $40 million annually; and would allot $25 million a year for thinning trees and prescribed burns. For forestry, it pledges an annual harvest of 40 million cubic metres by 2030, slightly lower than the NDP’s target, and a $45-million fund to make wood products in B.C.

OneBC: Party’s website says it would increase the allowable yearly cut to boost wood fibre production, reduce stumpage fees for lumber companies, and speed up permit approval times, although provided no specific details. In a statement, the party said “too much red tape is slowing down the forest sector, and that extremely low allowable cuts” have led to shortages of high-quality lumber.