B.C. Conservatives platform promises $2.6 B in growth, $10.8B deficit

The British Columbia Conservatives say their platform will create $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years, while shrinking the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030.

The party says its platform amounts to restraint, not austerity.


The document says that if Gross Domestic Product grows by 2.5 per cent in 2027, 2.8 per cent in 2028, and 3.2 per cent in 2029, the province will collect an additional $2.62 billion over three years, compared with the NDP’s own forecast.

Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson didn’t make himself available after the platform was released on Sunday, but said at an earlier event that he reviewed the document before it was made public.

“I just had a final look at it in the car on the way over here, and it will be open for criticism, I suppose, this afternoon. But it looks really great to me. I’m really excited about the opportunity to certainly attack the deficit and grow the economy in this province.”

Doerkson had promised the platform would be out before people had an opportunity to vote.

It was released Sunday afternoon ahead of the Oct. 24 general vote, although advanced voting began Oct. 16.

The platform says a Conservative government, if elected, would chop spending by freezing outside hiring, cutting consultants, and will review spending on numerous government ministries.

The 71-page platform says the core review would find about $1.8 billion over four years, while the hiring freeze and attrition of staff outside the front lines would save about $2 billion over the same period.

Doerkson said in a letter introducing his party’s platform that his job would be about making the lives of B.C. residents easier and better.

“I’ll work to get the economy moving, bring your costs down, and create good jobs. I’ll fully fund and protect our health care, and fix the mess David Eby and the NDP have made so that British Columbians aren’t dying on wait-lists or going to closed ERs when they need help.”

The New Democrats say they’ve costed Doerkson’s promises during the election and say income tax cuts and taking the PST off Canadian alcohol and other items would reduce revenues by more than $4.3 billion a year and boost the deficit by 33 per cent.

The NDP says in a statement Sunday that Doerkson has a budget gap of $6 billion after announcing items such as a new women and children’s hospital and changing the Massey tunnel replacement from the current plan of a tunnel to a bridge.

It says the Conservative’s growth claims are unrealistic.

“Doerkson seems to plan to pretend he can, quote, ‘flip a switch’ and make billions of dollars appear out of thin air. It doesn’t work like that,” the NDP says in its statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press