VANCOUVER -- The leaders of British Columbia's three major political parties have started the only televised debate of the provincial election campaign on the defensive -- not against each other but the moderator.
The 90-minute debate featured no opening statements, instead beginning with questions for NDP Leader David Eby, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad and Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.
Moderator and Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl pointed to the province's shift from surplus to deficit under the government of NDP Leader David Eby, asking him when things would improve.
Eby has responded by saying families are under pressure and "people need support now."
Asked how he can convince people he isn't "too extreme," Rustad says a "lot of things" have been said about him but he's "laser focused" on the needs of people in the province.
Furstenau has responded to a question about why people would vote for a party with only two people in the legislature by saying the choice presented by the other leaders is "more of the same or back to the past."
The 90-minute debate at CBC's Vancouver studio is being broadcast on all major TV networks with less than two weeks to go before election day on Oct. 19.
All three leaders spent the day preparing for what could be a pivotal moment for the campaign, with the B.C. Conservatives and the NDP locked in what polls suggest will be a close race.
Supporters outside the studio cheered on the leaders as they made their way inside.
Eby arrived on the party's election bus with wife Cailey Lynch and about two dozen supporters, Rustad was greeted by a largely youthful crowd waving blue party placards and Furstenau arrived with a handful of supporters.
At times, the NDP and B.C. Conservative supporters appeared to be in a friendly contest to out-cheer each other.
Rustad earlier today released his party's proposals for dealing with the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment and creating a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists.
He also says his party wants to redevelop and repurpose the Riverview Hospital in the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, a provincially-owned psychiatric institution that closed in 2012.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024