VANCOUVER – A look at some key developments from Day 22 of the B.C. election campaign for each of the parties:
NDP:
— NDP leader John Horgan promised investments into health care while campaigning in Kamloops on Tuesday, calling a shortfall of family doctors in the area a crisis.
— He says the NDP would invest in a new patient care tower at Royal Inland Hospital and build urgent care facilities across the province.
— Liberal Health Minister Terry Lake, who isn’t seeking re-election, showed up at the campaign stop to dispute the New Democrats claims that 30,000 people in the area are without a family doctor, saying no party can improve access to primary care overnight.
LIBERALS:
— Liberal Leader Christy Clark appears to be making the dispute with the United States over softwood a key election issue while campaigning in Merritt.
— Clark promised a hefty $70 per tonne carbon tax on U.S. thermal coal that’s shipped through the province’s ports, making it uncompetitive in the global market.
— She says it’s the right time “to send a strong message” to the U.S. administration and “lumber barons” that the province will not back down after the Americans imposed a 20 per cent levy on Canadian softwood, threatening the sector in B.C.
GREENS:
— Green Leader Andrew Weaver attacked the NDP during a campaign stop in Vancouver, saying the party has made “disturbing” multibillion-dollar promises without saying how they would be paid for.
— Weaver says the New Democrats’ plan to end MSP premiums is not “fully costed” compared to the Green’s strategy.
— He also says his party has introduced two bills in the legislature to try to get the ride sharing industry going, while the New Democrats’ plans for the industry lacks information.