VANCOUVER – A look at some key developments from Day Nine of the B.C. election campaign for each of the parties:
LIBERALS:
— Christy Clark campaigned in the Vancouver area on Wednesday, telling an event in Surrey that the Site C dam is necessary for the province’s economic well being.
— It was the second straight day that Clark highlighted the $8.8-billion hydroelectric project after she visited Fort St. John on Tuesday to tout construction jobs it has created.
— The Liberals issued their own analysis accusing the NDP of releasing a platform without costing out how to pay for it.
— Michael de Jong, the finance minister in Clark’s government, said the Liberals’ analysis of the NDP platform reveals $6.5 billion in costs that the party has not accounted for because of what he called costing errors and a failure to account for interest costs on increased spending.
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NDP:
— John Horgan campaigned at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he promoted his plan to eliminate interest on student loans and offer a $1,000 completion grant to people who finish their studies.
— Horgan says his party would also eliminate fees for adult basic education and English as a second language programs while maintaining a cap on tuition fees at colleges and universities.
— Carole James, the NDP’s finance critic, dismissed the Liberal accusations on its platform as “fearmongering.”
— Horgan said the numbers in the NDP platform are based on the Liberal government’s recent budget.
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GREENS:
— Green Leader Andrew Weaver campaigned in Kamloops where he released the party’s strategy for sustainably managing the province’s resources.
— Weaver says the party would work with industrial sectors affected by climate change to help them preserve their long term economic and environmental sustainability, and promote best practices; as well as develop an inventory of old-growth forests to determine reserves and protect them.
— The Greens would remove the provincial sales tax from machinery and equipment used for modernizing, upgrading and expanding sawmills and other wood processing businesses, starting Oct. 1.
— Party spokesman Stefan Jonsson says the Greens had 80 candidates officially approved by Elections BC ahead of a Tuesday afternoon registration deadline and were waiting to hear back on the eligibility of up to three more. A final list had not been published by Elections BC by mid-afternoon on Wednesday on all the candidates who are running in the province’s 87 ridings.
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VOTING MEASURES:
— Only about 48 per cent of registered voters aged 18 to 24 cast a ballot in 2013, but some university campus groups are trying to boost turnout this time, including a group called Young Climate Voters that is urging students to elect climate leaders.
— Elections BC says cards explaining where to vote were being delivered across the province on Wednesday.
— The agency is reminding voters to bring their Where to Vote card with them when to their polling places.
— Registered voters will receive a card that includes the dates, times and locations for advance voting in their district, as well as their assigned voting place for the day of the general election on May 9.