The leaders of British Columbia’s three major political parties clashed Tuesday night in the provincial election campaign’s sole televised debate.
The 90-minute event saw no knockout blows, but several spirited exchanges and, refreshingly, less crosstalk than some political debates of the past due to a format that saw more one-on-one exchanges between the candidates and moderator Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
With less than two weeks until election day and polls showing a dead heat between the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives, the debate could play a pivotal role in swaying undecided voters.
Each of the party leaders sought to cast the election on their terms. BC Conservative Leader John Rustad painted a picture of a province with out-of-control drug and crime problems that has grown unaffordable under seven years of NDP government, recounting an anecdote of seeing a fatal overdose victim on his way to the event. Throughout the debate, he repeatedly cited the statistic that half of young people want to leave the province, and vowed to “unleash” the economy and cut taxes.
BC NDP Leader David Eby characterized his government as a centrist one trying to tackle complex problems under tough economic conditions, and one prepared to spend money to ensure social services flow. He kept his guns trained squarely on Rustad, who he accused of planning major cuts and being beholden to COVID-19 conspiracy theories and a climate change denier.
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau effectively challenged both her rivals throughout the debate, arguing they represented a choice of “more of the same or back to the past,” and accusing both of being afraid to take real action to deal with B.C.’s drug challenges and aligned in support of expanding fossil fuel development.
In one of the debate’s fieriest exchanges, Eby pointed to Rustad’s recently surfaced comments saying he regretted taking the “so-called” COVID vaccine and that he would consider participating in a “Nuremberg 2.0” for public health officials.
“When we were all rolling up our sleeves to get vaccines to protect vulnerable seniors from COVID-19, (provincial health officer) Bonnie Henry was working night and day to keep us safe during the pandemic, John and his candidates were providing donations to people who were protesting outside of hospitals, anti-vax convoy members. He’s still an anti-vaxxer,” Eby said.
Rustad fired back that he supported the vaccine, but not mandates.
“I am not anti-vax, I am anti-mandate, I believe that people should have choice, that shouldn’t be thrust upon them or forced upon them, or coerced to be able to take a vaccine,” he said.
Towards the debate’s end, he added that Eby wanted to talk about conspiracy theories to avoid talking about his record.
“Seven years. Can anybody say that anything is better in British Columbia? Is anything better? Certainly. I haven’t been able to find anybody to say that there is,” he said.
Furstenau meanwhile shot back at Eby that his support of provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry was ironic, given he won’t accept her advice on increasing the safe supply of alternatives to street drugs.
“He rejects her advice when it comes to this public health emergency that has claimed 15,000 people’s lives,” she said.
“There needs to be a regulated pharmaceutical alternative to the toxic drugs that are being distributed by organized crime in our streets, and that’s the advice from the provincial health officer to this government.”
The province’s drug crisis earned significant air time and a few fireworks of its own.
At one point, Eby conceded his government’s experiment with decriminalization was a failure.
“We tried it and it didn’t produce the results anybody wanted,” he said, but accused Rustad of playing politics with the issue.
“It’s not okay to say to one community when you’re Richmond, to the Chinese community, we’re going to close the overdose prevention sites, we’re going to close the ‘drug dens’ you called them, and then later on you say, well, actually, we’re not going to close them,” Eby said.
Rustad said the government had become a “drug dealer” under the NDP, and that a Conservative government would focus on recovery including both voluntary and involuntary treatment.
“We need to take a different approach. We need to make sure that we bring an end to decriminalization and safe supply,” he said.
“We need to bring an end to this and to the government being a drug dealer, quite frankly.”
Sparks flared later in the debate when Eby attacked Rustad for failing to release a costed platform before the debate.
“I think it should have been a prerequisite,” he said. “An economist at UBC says your platform is written in pixie dust.”
Rustad fired back that the Conservatives weren’t planning cuts, and that the NDP would rack up a $24 billion deficit.
“They have no hope whatsoever to get back to a balanced budget,” he said.
Rustad slammed Eby over ongoing emergency room closures throughout the province, saying B.C. has the second most expensive healthcare system in the country but the second worst outcomes.
“People have died waiting in emerg. And there was a lady, she was in labour, she went into a hospital and she miscarried in the washroom and sat there covered in blood, waiting for hours for services in an emergency room,” he said.
“That is David Eby’s healthcare in B.C.”
Furstenau, meanwhile landed blows while criticizing Rustad’s approach to Indigenous relations.
His vision of “economic reconciliation,” she said, ignores the clear direction the courts have given to governments to work together with First Nations on rights and title or to lose at trial.
“John Rustad’s vision for this province is one that’s rooted somewhere around 1957, I mean, he cannot look ahead because he can only look back,” she said.
“All John Rustad can do is look back to when he was minister of Indigenous Relations, and what he wanted to do was visit First Nations that had golf courses — he is not seriously taking this issue and recognizing the serious work of a provincial government is not to politicize this, not to make people afraid.
Throughout the debate, leaders handled a variety of questions on healthcare, the drug crisis, the economy and the environment.
You can watch the full 90-minute event here on Globalnews.ca/bc, along with a post-debate special and analysis.
British Columbians go to the polls on October 19.