B.C. party leaders square off in campaign's only televised debate

The leaders of B.C.'s main political parties sparred over health care, housing and climate change Tuesday, pitching competing visions for how to address the most urgent issues facing the province in a debate punctuated by a few feisty exchanges.

The only televised, multi-platform debate in the lead up to the Oct. 19 election comes as polls show the race between the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Conservatives remains strikingly close.

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David Eby and John Rustad aimed most of their barbs at one another.

The Conservative leader called Eby an "authoritarian," repeatedly accused him of lying, and said he’d ushered in policies that have turned the government into a "drug dealer."

The NDP leader said Rustad has a platform made out of "pixie dust," and called his opponent a climate change denier and anti-vaxxer whose extreme views are "embarrassing" for the province.

B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said neither of her opponents or their parties had a plan to meaningfully address the problems British Columbians are struggling with.

Eby, in addition to defending his party's record on key issues over the past seven years, sought to draw attention to Rustad's record during his years in government as a B.C. Liberal cabinet minister. He also took aim at some controversial comments from the Conservative leader, who was ejected from his former party for questioning climate science.

"What you hear from John Rustad – conspiracy theories, division, cuts – it's not going to solve the problems that we face," Eby said.

Rustad, for his part, argued that the NDP's policies have made the province less safe and less affordable, saying that young people are considering leaving B.C. in droves and that people are routinely dying on the streets from both crime and drugs. Rustad said he saw someone die from an overdose in downtown Vancouver while on his way to the debate.

"This is the British Columbia that David Eby has created. Tent cities are growing all over the place. We have a crisis in health care. We've got a crisis in affordability. We've got a crisis in housing," Rustad said.

Furstenau described both of her opponents as politicians who have had the opportunity to make change but failed to come through – saying her party is the only one focused on the future and the only one offering innovative solutions.

"What these two are offering is either more of the same or back to the past," she said.

"We find ourselves now 23 years downstream from a B.C. Liberal government and seven years downstream from an NDP government that hasn't been willing to do enough to change things."

In a province with sky-high rental rates and real estate price – as well as an entrenched homelessness crisis – housing and affordability dominated the first half of the debate.

"I want us to make sure that in B.C., we don't have Lamborghinis driving down a road where people are living on the streets," Furstenau said.

Eby defended moves like the speculation and vacancy tax, short-term rental regulations, annual rent increase caps and tighter rules on evictions, saying they have increased supply and enabled people to stay in affordable rentals.

"These are basic things, and we're making sure to deliver for British Columbians on them," he said. "But we've got so much more to do," he conceded.

Eby also took aim at the Conservatives’ plan, saying that party is "not going to build a single unit." He also said Rustad's rebate for renters and homeowners would be more of a benefit to penthouse owners in downtown Vancouver than to struggling tenants.

Rustad accused Eby of shifting the blame for the crisis instead of taking responsibility.

"We have a government that is saying, first it was foreigners, and then it was spectators, and then it was vacant properties, and then it was Airbnbs, instead of pointing at the real problem, which is government," Rustad said, arguing it takes too long to get housing built because of government bureaucracy and red tape. He promised to "unleash" the potential to get more homes built more quickly.

Rustad also said Eby's claim that the B.C. Conservatives would eliminate annual rental increase caps was untrue.

Furstenau said neither of her opponents have committed to enough measures that will keep rentals affordable, increase the number of non-market rentals or discourage the commodification of housing as an investment.

"We're in an emergency where people can't afford to live here," she said.

In closing, debate moderator Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, asked the leaders about increased polarization in provincial politics, and the debate concluded in much the same way it played out.

Eby took a parting shot at Rustad and some of the candidates on his slate for their comments on climate change, LGBTQ2S+ inclusivity in schools, and vaccines.

"I regret that we're having to have a debate about a bunch of very polarizing topics. These are topics that used to be settled for British Columbians for a generation," Eby said.

"Climate change is real. Vaccines work. We don't call gay people groomers. We respect people. We respect indigenous people. We don't promote hate and division."

Rustad said Eby bringing up extreme views espoused by him or his candidates in the past is a tactic meant to distract voters from the NDPs failures and the substance of the Conservative campaign

"We're talking about the fact that people are dying on our streets. We're talking about the fact that our health-care system is collapsing. We're talking about the fact that our economy is in shambles. We're talking about fact that crime is running rampant," Rustad said.

"These are the things that people are concerned about. David Eby wants to talk about conspiracy theories and anything but what's actually going on."

Furstenau – who is the only Green incumbent running in this election – said polarization is an all-but inevitable byproduct of a two-party system.

"If we want less polarization, if we want more focus on solutions, we have to get away from a winner-takes-all, two-party system. We have to elect enough Greens to prevent that. We're running out of time," she said.

Election day is less than two weeks away, with advance voting beginning on Oct. 10.