BC NDP promises to lower gas costs while BC Conservatives embrace pipeline

Promises to lower the cost of gasoline from B.C. New Democrat Leader David Eby, and praise for a planned pipeline from Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson fuelled British Columbia’s snap election campaign on Thursday.

Eby’s platform for relief at the gas pumps comes in two parts: a temporary reduction of the provincial motor fuel tax by 10 cents per litre on both gasoline and diesel, and a permanent “price guard” to regulate the price at the pumps.

The leader said the measures would save the average two-car family up to $100 per month, but would also cost the provincial treasury about $250 million, with additional details forthcoming.

The fuel promise was criticized by Lorne Doerkson, the interim B.C. Conservative leader, Thursday, who reminded reporters that Eby made a financial promise before the 2024 election that he didn’t keep.

“Just two years ago, there were promises made for a thousand-dollars of relief to families and to homes and to people in this province, and he failed to deliver that, and I think he needs to answer that,” Doerkson said.

Eby promised a direct rebate of $1,000 to the average household as one of his campaign’s signature promises in the 2024 election.

2:56 Poll shows BC Conservatives are gaining favour in the province

In February 2025, then-finance minister Brenda Bailey said that government could not pay the so-called “grocery rebate” because of the provincial deficit.

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Eby said Thursday that if the NDP was re-elected in the Oct. 24 election his government would ask the B.C. Utilities Commission to set the maximum price that fuel stations can charge.

It would be updated weekly as the benchmark price for crude oil fluctuates, he said.

“Yes, government needs to step up and say, ‘we’ll reduce the tax on gas in this time to support families,'” he said. “But also, government needs it to use its force. We need to use our authority. We need to use our rules to make sure that British Columbians are not gouged.”

Big oil and gas companies have been exploiting conflicts overseas to make record profits, leaving ordinary drivers and truckers paying the price every time they fill up, Eby said.

He made the announcement at a gas station in Surrey, a riding-rich area that the NDP needs to win if it’s to form government.

9:20 West Coast pipeline named Pacific Link as Carney, Smith outline path to construction

Doerkson spoke at a campaign event in Vancouver, where he praised the federal government’s decision to designate the Pacific Link pipeline a project of national interest.

He said his party supports a second pipeline from northern Alberta to B.C.’s southern coast, because the world desperately needs Canadian energy.

“We welcome it because British Columbia’s economy desperately needs a boost. And the events of the last few years have shown just how important this is to be self-sufficient,” Doerkson said.

The B.C. Green Party announced a star candidate on Thursday as it released its platform on the toxic drug crisis.

Former B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe will run under the Green banner in Saanich South, the same riding where former Global TV reporter Richard Zussman will run for the NDP.

Lapointe was B.C.’s chief coroner for 13 years and made recommendations to save lives, some of which were rejected by the NDP government.

“I recognize that the toxic drug crisis will only be solved when politicians are willing to show leadership; when regulated alternatives are available, when voluntary treatment is available when people need it, and when people who use drugs have the same access to resources, medical care, housing, dignity and respect as anyone else,” Lapointe said in a statement issued Thursday.

She told a B.C. Supreme Court judge in December last year at a constitutional challenge by founders of a compassion club that the provincial government ignored multiple recommendations from experts to create a safer drug supply that did not require a prescription.

The judge in that case tossed out criminal convictions for the founders this week and gave the government six months to rework the law because the act that prohibited them from selling safer drugs “criminalizes life-saving conduct” by the pair.