British Columbia is expected to be a focal point during the federal election campaign as all four parties are confident in their abilities to win seats in the province.
There are also regional battles unfolding across B.C.
The Liberals are in tough to keep seats in Metro Vancouver they won from the Conservative Party four years ago. Those seats include Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, Cloverdale-Langley City, and Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon.
WATCH: (Sept. 11) Important B.C. ridings in federal election
On the flip side, the Conservatives are trying to hold off the Liberals in B.C. Interior. The Grits are primarily focused on Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo.
In the Vancouver/Burnaby/Surrey area, the Liberals, NDP and in some cases the Conservatives are battling over seats. That includes a focus on the NDP-held riding of Vancouver Kingsway and the Liberal-held ridings of Vancouver South, South Surrey-White Rock, Steveston-Richmond East, and Surrey Newton.
Vancouver Island offers up intense battles between the Greens and the NDP, with the Liberals and Conservatives looking to make inroads. The NDP won six of the seven island seats a year ago but the Greens picked one up in the byelection and are eyeing more. The Conservatives will focus on the northern part of the island, while the Liberals will look to add around Victoria.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South) and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands) are running in B.C.
Here is where the leaders have been in the province. This list will be updated through the campaign.
Justin Trudeau, Liberal leader
Day 1: Trudeau kicked off the Liberal campaign in Vancouver Kingsway with local candidate Tamara Taggart. NDP candidate Don Davies is the incumbent in Vancouver Kingsway. The party’s campaign plane was damaged in Victoria after the media bus damaged one of the wings.
Day 2: Trudeau started the day with a housing announcement in Esquimalt alongside Capital Regional District Liberal candidates. The region has two seats, Victoria and Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke that the party is focused on. Trudeau then went to Kamloops for an event with Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo candidate Terry Lake. The riding was won in 2015 by Conservative Cathy McLeod and the Liberals are banking on Lake’s star power to make a difference.
Day 14: Trudeau introduced his climate action plan to ‘create jobs and reduce pollution’. The plan will cut taxes in half for companies creating zero emission technologies. The announcement was made in Burnaby South, the home riding of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. B.C. is at the centre of Trudeau’s climate change agenda considering his investments to the coast and the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Trudeau capped the day off with a rally of more than a thousand people in Surrey. The riding rich city was a big breakthrough area for the Liberals four years ago. The party has five incumbents, all running again, that touch part of the city.
Day 15: Trudeau kicked off the day in Delta. The Liberals rolling out a plan to ‘help Canadians lower their energy bills, make their homes more energy-efficient, and give them the tools to prepare for climate related disasters’. Delta was an important and surprise victory for the Liberals in 2015 and Carla Qualtrough is running for the party again.
Day 31: Trudeau laid out his plan to make education more affordable for students in Surrey Centre. The visit marked the Liberal leader’s second trip to the riding rich Vancouver suburb.
Trudeau’s Metro Vancouver swing headed to the Tri-Cities with a visit in Port Coquitlam. Port Moody–Coquitlam Liberal candidate Sara Badiei, and Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam Liberal incumbent Ron McKinnon were part of the announcement. The region along the Fraser and Pitt River’s in Metro Vancouver are major swing ridings. The day finished with a rally in Burnaby.
Day 40: Trudeau spent the entire last day of the election campaign in B.C. These are the ridings the Liberals are either worried about losing or are optimistic they can pick up.
The first stop was the riding of West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country with candidate Patrick Weiler. The Liberals won this seat four years ago with popular West Vancouver mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones as the candidate. She is not running again and this riding has traditionally gone Conservative.
Trudeau went back to the Tri-Cities, with a visit to Port Moody-Coquitlam. The NDP seat has not incumbent and the Liberals covet it.
The rest of the day was major rallies in Vancouver and Victoria. Southern Vancouver Island has two ridings the Liberals believe are at play. Vancouver created nice symmetry, ending the campaign where it started.
WATCH: (Sept. 11) 2019 federal election campaign gets underway
Andrew Scheer, Conservative leader
Day 5: Scheer’s first day in B.C. kicked off at a private residence in Surrey, where he announced he will lower income taxes for low-income earners if elected. Surrey-White Rock is a riding the party won four years ago but lost in a 2017 byelection to the Liberals.
He then hopped over to Vancouver Island, where he met with voters in Comox before joining Courtenay-Alberni candidate Bryon Horner in Parksville. The Tories are hoping to recapture at least a northern corner of the island after losing all presence there in 2015.
Day 6: Scheer was in Lake Country to announce plan for parents to receive up to $150 back on their taxes per child up to the age of 16 for enrolling their kids in sports and fitness classes. Kelowna-Lake Country was won by the Liberals in 2015, the first win for the party in B.C.’s interior since the 1970s.
Day 17: Scheer spent the day in three Metro Vancouver regions where the party lost seats to the Liberals four years ago. The Conservative leader made an announcement in Coquitlam. Former Stephen Harper era minister James Moore represented the region for his entire career and the party lost Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam to the Liberals in 2015.
Scheer stopped in a local business with former BC Liberal MLA and Conservative candidate Marc Dalton in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge. The Liberals surprisingly won the seat in 2015.
The Conservative leader also stopped in Steveston-Richmond East. Also traditionally Conservative territory, the seat was new four years ago and won by the Liberals.
Day 31: Scheer unveiled his platform in Tsawwassen. The riding of Delta was won by the Liberals in 2015 beating sitting Conservative Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Tanya Corbet is the Conservative candidate in the riding this time around.
Day 32: Scheer visited Burnaby to announce he will create a commission to review government subsidies for corporations. Part of the reason it was in B.C. is because former B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon would get the position if Scheer forms government. The Conservatives have some chance in Burnaby but the visit allowed for Metro Vancouver media coverage. The party booted Burnaby-North Seymour Heather Leung, although her names still appears on the ballot beside Conservative, for homophobic comments.
Day 40: Scheer spent the final day of the campaign in Metro Vancouver. Like Trudeau, Scheer went to West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country. The riding is a targeted pick up for the Conservatives.
Scheer went to Vancouver Granville. The seat was won by now Independent Jody Wilson-Raybould. The Conservatives hope Wilson-Raybould and the Liberals split votes and open the door for candidate Zach Segal.
Before heading to a massive rally near the Vancouver International Airport, Scheer campaigned in Surrey Newton. There are parts of Surrey where historically the Conservatives have done well and are looking to gain.
Jagmeet Singh, NDP leader
Day 14: Singh heads all the way west for the first time this campaign for a town hall at the Firefighter’s Banquet Hall in his own riding of Burnaby South.
Day 15: Singh spent a full day in Metro Vancouver. The NDP leader the first to unveil a specific platform for B.C. The New Deal for British Columbia focuses on climate change, plus a RCMP unit to fight money laundering and a tax on foreign buyers to address housing speculation.
Singh then headed to Vancouver city hall to meet with mayor Kennedy Stewart. Stewart preceding Singh as the NDP MP for Burnaby South. The day wrapped up in Port Moody-Coquitlam. Bonita Zarillo is the NDP candidate trying to hold on to the seat previously held by Fin Donnelly, who isn’t running again.
Day 16: The B.C. tour continued for Singh. The NDP leader started the day in Campbell River beside local candidate Rachel Blaney. Vancouver Island is critical ground for Singh and the NDP.
Singh headed south on Vancouver Island to Nanaimo. The riding was previously held by the NDP but the Greens won the seat in a by-election earlier this year.
The last Vancouver Island stop of the day was in Courtenay where NDP incumbent Gord Johns is trying to hold off the Conservatives in the riding.
Day 17: In the 2015 the NDP won six out of the seven seats on Vancouver Island. The party doesn’t want to reverse that trend. To kick off a fourth straight day on the island Singh was once again in Nanaimo-Ladysmith to announce a pledge of $40 million for a Coastal Protection Fund that will remove derelict vessels, clean up the coast, and improve Coast Guard equipment and training.
Singh also spent the day in Duncan, in the riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, in an attempt to fend off a Green surge. The day wrapped up with a rally in Victoria.
Day 18: The day kicked off on board a BC Ferries vessel heading from Victoria to Vancouver. The party is pledging $30 million in federal funding for BC Ferries.
The afternoon was spent in Burnaby for an armchair discussion with Rupi Kaur, the Canadian poet and illustrator.
Day 19: Back in Metro Vancouver, Singh spent the day in Burnaby and Surrey. The NDP are hoping Svend Robinson can help the party win Burnaby North – Seymour from the Liberals. The party also announced a pledge to invest $100 million into youth programs to help keep young people off the streets and out of gangs.
The day ended with a townhall in Surrey. The NDP have down well in Surrey before and are hoping to win back seats that were lost in the area four years ago.
Day 20: Child care was on the agenda for Singh’s seventh straight day in B.C. The focus of the day was on Vancouver ridings including Vancouver Centre, Vancouver East and Vancouver-Kingsway.
The NDP are trying to hold on to Vancouver-Kingsway and Vancouver East. Both have been traditional seats for the party.
Day 21: Singh stuck to Vancouver with a breakfast event with young families. The focus was skyrocketing child care costs many families in Metro Vancouver are feeling. The NDP leader left B.C. after the event after an eight day provincial tour.
Day 33: Singh came back to British Columbia to vote with his wife Gurkiran Kaur in advanced polls in their home riding of Burnaby South.
Day 34: No leader spent more time in Vancouver than Jagmeet Singh during the campaign. As part of Thanksgiving weekend, Singh visited with people on Granville Island at the Turkey Trot Run before joining the picket line with workers at the Westin Bayshore.
Day 38: The final B.C. tour of the campaign kicked off with a tour of Vancouver Island. Singh held rallies in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Courtenay-Port Alberni and Victoria. The NDP won all three seats in 2015.
Singh also met with students at the University of Victoria.
Day 39: After holding a rally in Vancouver, Singh headed into the Interior in an attempt to hold on to the riding of Okanagan-West Kootenay. The rally was in Penticton.
Day 40: Singh wrapped up the last full day of campaigning in Vancouver and Surrey. The NDP leader opened the day speaking with reporters in Vancouver. Next stop was to Vancouver Centre and meeting voters on Davie Street. The riding is held by the Liberals.
Singh wrapped the day up with a visit to Surrey. The NDP is hoping to pick up Surrey Centre and Surey-Newton from the Liberals.
Day 41: Singh spent the day encouraging people to vote in his home riding of Burnaby South. Singh will host an election party in Burnaby.
Elizabeth May, Green Party leader
Day 1: Kicked off the election campaign in Victoria with Vancouver Island candidates and some other Green Party candidates from across the country.
Day 3: May wrapped up the day in Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon after a two day trip to Toronto. The riding is a reach for the Greens, but May visited to kick off the campaign of local candidate John Kidder. Kidder is also May’s husband.
Day 4: May returned to her home riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, attending the Fall Fair on Salt Spring Island. She later took a ferry to West Vancouver to launch the campaign for Green candidate Dana Taylor. The Greens are looking to capitalize on Taylor’s second-place finish in the 2017 provincial election there, hoping to break through in a riding that has gone back and forth between the Liberals and Conservatives.
Day 8: May spent the day doing interviews and campaigning in Vancouver. She spent the evening at an event for Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott. The Greens actively recruited both former Liberal cabinet ministers before they decided to run as Independents. May is friends with both women and Wilson-Raybold attended the Green leader’s wedding this summer.
Day 9: May spoke at the B.C. Assembly of First Nations general assembly. Cowichan-Malahat-Langford Green candidate Lydia Hwitsum also spoke at the event. The Greens reject the Indian Act and would re-introduce legislation to enshrine UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People) in Canadian law .
May spent the afternoon canvassing with Burnaby North-Seymour candidate Amita Kuttner. The riding is ground zero for the debate on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Day 13: May attended a fundraiser with Victoria Green candidate Racelle Kooy. The riding is a huge target for the Greens considering the party finished second there four years ago.
Day 18: May spent the day in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands participating in all-candidates meetings. May committed at the beginning of the campaign to participate in events in her home riding.
In her riding, May also announced a Green government would develop a national transportation strategy with a goal of reaching zero-carbon public transportation everywhere in Canada by 2040. Part of the commitment is a $100 million over five years to support ferry service on both coasts.
Day 19: May kicked off the day with an announcement on automation and artificial intelligence. The announcement was alongside Burnaby-North Seymour candidate Amita Kuttner. The Greens are hoping to grow their base away from just Vancouver Island.
Day 20: Following the climate strikes across the country, May announced in Vancouver that the election was a referendum on climate. The speech at Vancouver’s Terminal City Club was an expansion on the party’s environmental and climate plans.
Day 23: May announced support for seniors in an event with Victoria candidate Racelle Kooy. The Greens had their second highest vote share across the board in Victoria four years ago
The rest of the day was spent campaigning and attending candidate meetings in May’s own riding.
Day 24: The environment came back into focus during a stop with Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke candidate David Merner. May expanded on the Green Party’s Mission: Possible climate plan by pledging funding for planting new trees.
Day 25: Vancouver Island continued to be the central focus for the Green Party. May was in Cowichan Bay with Cowichan-Malahat-Langford candidate Lydia Hwitsum.
May used the event to reiterate promise to get rid of the Indian Act.
Day 33: It was a family affair for May on Thanksgiving. The Green Party candidate spent timein Ashcroft with her husband John Kidder and their kids. Kidder is the Green candidate for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon.
Day 35: Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo would a long shot for the Greens, finishing fourth in the riding four years ago, but May still visited the riding. The Green Party leader laid out the party’s plans to restore fairness to the taxation system with Kidder and Kamloops candidate Iain Currie.
WATCH: (Sept. 11) Green leader Elizabeth May launches election campaign
Maxime Bernier, PPC
Day 15: Bernier made his first visit of the campaign to British Columbia. The PPC leader spoke to local media and also gave a speech at a Surrey Board of Trade event focused on his proposed immigration policies, which he said require a “discussion” in Canada.
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