B.C. NDP Leader David Eby used the first leader's debate of the provincial election campaign to argue that B.C. is turning the corner on housing among other issues.
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad repeated his call for "common-sense change."
And B.C. Greens' Leader Sonia Furstenau offered her party as an alternative, holding the balance of power in actively lobbying for a minority government.
The radio debate, hosted by Mike Smyth on 980 CKNW, was the first of two meetings between the three leaders Wednesday (Oct.2), as they are scheduled to meet again at an event hosted by the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Eby and Rustad used the opening question around affordability to remind voters about recently announced pledges.
Eby acknowledged that British Columbians are struggling with affordability, blaming high interest rates and global inflation in listing a range of rebates, key among them his party's pledge to give 90 per cent of taxpayers $1,000 starting next year, first as a direct rebate, then as a tax cut.
Rustad, meanwhile, pointed to the so-called Rustad Rebate that would deduct up to $3,000 per month off mortgage and rent payments by 2029 in criticizing rising taxes during the past seven years. He also promised that his party would make B.C. more affordable through higher wages by stimulating the provincial economy generally and its resource sector specifically.
Eby questioned the timing of Rustad's proposal, saying that British Columbians need the "relief right now." Rustad responded by saying that the rebate starts in 2026, blaming B.C.'s record-setting $9 billion deficit under the NDP for its phased roll-out.
Furstenau, meanwhile, accused both Eby and Rustad of ignoring the real drivers of higher costs: the financialization of housing; reliance on fossil fuels; and corporate profiteering. She argued for large public investments in non-market housing and alternative energy, pointing to Texas and California, where large investments in solar power have led to residents receiving credits on their energy bills.
Rustad and Eby then traded familiar exchanges on climate change and carbon taxation.
Rustad accused Eby of flip-flopping on the consumer portion of the carbon tax, adding that the Conservatives' pledge to eliminate the carbon tax and various emission standards would provide real financial relief to British Columbians.
Eby, meanwhile, pointed out that B.C. cannot unilaterally stop collecting the carbon tax unless Ottawa agrees and questioned Rustad's acceptance of the science around climate change. Rustad responded by saying that "man is having an impact on climate" but added that B.C.'s "real crisis" is affordability.
Furstenau, meanwhile, defended her party's position in favour of the carbon tax in pointing to the ecological and economic costs of events like the 2021 atmospheric river and the widespread B.C. flooding it caused. She also accused both the B.C. NDP and the Conservative Party of B.C. of being beholden to the fossil fuel industry and questioned Rustad's answer on climate change.
"Saying climate change is real and scaling up fossil fuel infrastructure is a circle I like to see squared somehow," she said.
When the debate turned to health care, Rustad touted his party's plan to reform the provincial health care system along European lines.
"What we have seen from David Eby are closed (emergency rooms), 10-to-12 hour-waits in ERs, people not being able to get services, it has been an absolute disaster," Rustad said. "We have the second-most expense health care model in the Top 30 countries in the world and yet we have the second-worst outcomes on many measures."
Rustad said this model would remain universally accessible, but health care itself would be delivered by government and private agencies.
"The funding follows the patient," Rustad said. "The system is broken and we need to brave enough to say 'we need to do something else.'"
Furstenau said Rustad's volume-based approach to patient care would lead to legal and illegal profiteering and denounced the growing corporate presence in B.C.'s public health care system. She also lamented the growth of health bureaucracy, while touting her party's proposal for integrated, multi-disciplinary community health centres in all of B.C.'s 93 ridings.
Eby responded to Rustad's model by saying it would trigger a competition for already-scarce health care staff between the private and non-private sector. Instead, he said government needs to recruit more doctors, nurses, and health care workers — something his government has already begun — and pointed to health care cuts when Rustad was with the former B.C. Liberals.
He also used the occasion to reveal a 2023 tweet by Conservative candidate Chris Sankey, which he says shows Sankey believes COVID-19 vaccine causes HIV/AIDS.
"Do you agree with your candidate?" Eby asked. He then pushed a piece of paper with the tweet across the studio table to Rustad for proof.
Rustad responded by re-stating his opposition to mandates that until recently had required health care workers to be vaccinated and other measures without directly answering the question. Eby — who raised the same tweet in different ways at least three more times — accused Rustad of dodging the question.
"He (Eby) is trying to divert...and I get that because he can't defend it, because that is what weak leadership does," Rustad said. "The reality is this -- people are dying in our streets from drugs, people are dying in our streets from crime, our health care is collapsing and in crisis, people have an affordability crisis, our economy is in shambles, our resource sector is being destroyed...we have so many issues that need to be debate and David Eby only wants to go negative."
Sankey, a prominent First Nations leader in northern British Columbia running in the riding of North Coast-Haida Gwaii, later re-posted a 2022 tweet showing his support for COVID-19 vaccination. He also posted a statement attributed to Napoleon.
"Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake."
Rustad and Eby also exchanged jabs over new federal gun laws.
"I think is the wrong approach, especially when you’re out in rural B.C. and with people that are there," Rustad said. "I will not see our precious dollars that are being spent on law enforcement go after law-abiding (gun-owners). Instead, I will see have them going after the criminals, going after the gangs, going after the source of these guns coming into our province.
He accused Eby of not doing enough to combat crime generally and prevent guns from entering the province specifically.
Eby said Rustad is "pandering" to a small, "invisible" constituency in making communities less safe.
"Are you hunting deer with hand-guns?" he asked.
Eby used the debate to defend his record since becoming premier while warning against a Rustad-led government that would turn the housing market back to private interests.
"People are frustrated and rightly so," he said. "These challenges we face are really hard problems and we are just starting to turn the corner. Rents are just starting to come down in British Columbia, while they are going up in the rest of Canada...now is not the time to stop."
Rustad disagreed.
"We are focused on bringing common-sense change, just getting back to basics, looking after people," he said. "David Eby seems to think that $3,700 a month, downtown Vancouver for a two-bedroom apartment is affordable. It's not."
Wednesday's radio debate and Vancouver Board of Trade event unfolded with the two parties essentially tied in the polls at forty-plus per cent. The Greens are polling at around 10 per cent.
The leaders will meet again next week on Oct. 8, this time for the only televised debate.
