Friday September 27, 2024 | OAK BAY, BC
BC ELECTION CAMPAIGN DAY 7 of 28
Political feature interview by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Your 28-day voter’s guide for BC Election 2024
Today there was a BC NDP blast — a whistle stop — in Windsor Park in Oak Bay.
It’s a location where families and community gather for fun and events.
Today’s campaign event during the BC provincial election campaign was a gathering of the BC NDP party faithful with their leader Premier David Eby.
His visit was brief under bright sunny skies. Off the campaign bus, photos, handshakes, less than five minutes of remarks to the crowd, a selfie with the large crowd of supporters behind him, and then back onto the bus.
Eby’s remarks of course included jabs at the BC Conservative stance on COVID vaccines.
“What we’re focused on is improving health-care for people and building affordable homes that people need, and making sure that everyone can build a good life in this amazing province we call home,” said Eby to loud cheers from the crowd.
“We’ve got to get the message out. We’ve got to knock on the doors. We’ve got to be out there,” said Eby to the crowd that (other than the featured candidates) was largely campaign organizers and volunteers.
He said: “Vancouver Island, I’m willing to do a debate with John Rustad.” I want to talk about your issues. I’m not taking you for granted. We’re up and down the island the last couple of days.
Housing issue:
“The government has no role in providing affordable housing,” he said about Rustad’s campaign approach to solving the housing crisis, said Eby, who recently announced a 300,000 housing supply increase over 10 years.
The BC NDP housing plan has a bedrock of several legislative changes brought in during 2023-2024 and continues with his announcement today about supporting pre-fab construction to speed up production and enhance conditions for construction workers.
Lots of media showed up but there was no announcement-style media availability. On site were journalists and photographers from CTV, CHEK-TV, Global-TV, The Times Colonist, Black Press, Island Social Trends and others.
Now on day-seven of the campaign with his family along on the campaign bus, Eby was joined at Windsor Park by seven MLA-hopeful candidates for the Vancouver Island (* = newly boundaried riding):
- Lana Popham – seeking re-election in Saanich South
- Sarah Riddell – seeking election in Saanich North and the Islands
- Darlene Rotchford – seeking election in Esquimalt-Colwood*
- Ravi Parmar – seeking re-election in Langford-Highlands*
- Diana Gibson – seeking election in Oak Bay-Gordon Head
- Nina Krieger – seeking election in Victoria-Swan Lake
- Grace Lore – seeking re-election in Victoria-Beacon Hill
Also in the crowd were Rob Fleming and Murray Rankin — two high-profile BC NDP MLAs who are not seeking re-election.
Earlier in the day:
Earlier today, Eby was up-island in the Comox Valley to release the BC NDP plan to fast-track growth of BC’s factory-built home construction industry by “cutting out-of-date red tape and streamling regulations”. He made the announcement at ORCA, a Vancouver-Island based company specializing in innovative, precision-crafted home construction.
Eby led local campaign events up-island this morning with:
- Ronna-Rae Leonard – seeking re-election in Courtenay-Comox
- Josie Osborne – seeking re-election in Mid-Island Pacific Rim
- Michelle Babchuk – seeking re-election in North Island
- Stephanie Higginson – seeking election in Ladysmith-Oceanside*
- George Anderson – seeking election in Nanaimo-Lantzville*
- Sheila Malcolmson- seeking re-election in Nanaimo-Gabriola Island*
- Debra Toporowski – seeking election in Cowichan Valley
Last night in Nanaimo Eby announced that if re-elected his government would build a new patient tower at Nanaimo Regional Hospital.
Three more weeks to go:
This wraps up week-one of the 28-day election campaign. The BC Election Day is Saturday October 19, 2024.
===== RELATED:
- Your 28-day voter’s guide for BC Election 2024 (Updated Sept 22 through Oct 19, 2024)
- Victoria Swan-Lake residents explore top issues with NDP & Green candidates (September 25, 2024)
- Heavy-hitters Lore & Furstenau in Victoria-Beacon Hill (September 23, 2024)
- Election 2024: Langford-Highlands three-way race (September 1, 2024)