With five days left in the BC campaign, every party now has its numbers on the table. On this episode of BC War Room, Michael Gardiner and Azim Jiwani were joined by Aaron Gunn, Conservative MP for North Island–Powell River, for an extended look at whose numbers are holding up and who is squeezing whom.
Watch today's BC War Room here.
The Conservatives released their 71-page costings on Sunday, projecting a $10.8 billion deficit by 2030 and relying on a hiring freeze, attrition and a core spending review. The NDP responded that Conservative tax cuts would take more than $4.3 billion a year out of revenue. In Campbell River, part of Gunn's riding, David Eby asked Green voters to lend him their support, arguing the Green vote helped elect Conservatives in 11 ridings last time.
Gunn said the appeal is aimed at seats like Courtenay-Comox, decided by about 100 votes, where the Greens took a large share. Smaller parties will matter if the race is close, he said: the Greens for the NDP on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland, and OneBC for the Conservatives in the Okanagan and the Kootenays. He expects their support to shrink as election day nears. The more the election becomes a referendum on Eby, he said, the better it is for Conservatives.
Gunn described Lorne Doerkson as a reluctant leader who answered his colleagues' call, and argued the party can welcome new supporters as long as its principles stay clear. He said his riding includes many former NDP voters who switched over the state of forestry. He blamed provincial policy for coastal mill closures and job losses. Gardiner conceded the NDP is vulnerable on forestry, but pointed to US tariffs and about $130 billion in investment in LNG and mining.
On Saturday's municipal results, which included Pete Fry winning in Vancouver and Doug McCallum returning in Surrey, Gunn and Jiwani read the outcome as a verdict on incumbents more than a shift left or right. Jiwani noted that English-language polls in Surrey missed McCallum's surge, raising questions about provincial polling there. All three agreed Surrey, with six or seven swing seats, could again decide the government
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