Friday September 20, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 12 noon | Updated 12:29 & 12:35 & 12:52 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Premier David Eby has launched the BC NDP 2024 provincial campaign today, one day ahead of the Writ dropping.
He held an event at noon in Surrey today, September 20. That included a media availability in-person and remote.
Why in Surrey?:
Why launch the campaign in Surrey?
With all the growing population, pressure on services health-are and education, affordable housing, and other challenges in Surrey, it’s like Surrey is “the epicenter of many of the challenges we face”, said Eby. “It’s representative of how we got here,” he told media today.
Tough fight ahead:
The BC NDP are up for a tough fight against the Conservative Party of BC — both parties have 93 candidates to cover all electoral areas across the province.
The BC Conservatives have mounted a strong resistance to how the BC NDP have been addressing climate change, housing, education, health-care, and, well just about everything.
Premier Eby and his ministers have been explaining for months (and years) how the BC NDP government since 2017 has had to clean up and make up for shortfalls by the long-running 16-year BC Liberal government when it comes to infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and roads.
Key issues in this election campaign period (September 21 to October 19) will focus on housing, as well as affordability and economy, health-care, education and infrastructure.
Eby says that building communities, infrastructure and housing was not a priority for the previous government (2001-2016) in which Rustad was a cabinet minister.
“We will be there every day for people,” said Eby.
Police officers running as BC NDP candidates:
In defending the BC NDP government’s work on public safety, Eby pointed out that four BC NDP candidates are police officers but no police officers are running for the BC Conservatives.
Eby says that his candidates understand how the system needs to support social services, sports and recreation opportunities to keep youth out of gang life. For some people it’s about finding housing or getting into drug treatment. “These are needed on top of strong police services,” said Eby.
There is at least one police officer running with the BC Conservatives, that being Elenore Sturko MLA, Surrey South as a candidate in Surrey-Cloverdale.
===== RELATED:
- Premier Eby takes media questions at UBCM: infrastructure, carbon tax revenue, public safety, substance use (September 19, 2024)
- Premier Eby addresses BC municipal leaders in Vancouver (September 19, 2024)
- Government’s job to keep running the province (June 18, 2024)
- NEW SECTIONS: POLITICS | BC PROVINCIAL ELECTION 2024 | COMMUNITY CALENDAR (candidate events & voting info)