B.C. election at a glance: NDP talks nursing ratios, Conservatives tout Surrey plan

The British Columbia election campaign is in its closing stages, with advance voting wrapping up ahead of final voting day on Saturday.

Here are some of the latest developments on the campaign trail.

ADVANCE VOTING DROPS SHARPLY

Six days of advance voting have ended, with Elections BC data showing numbers are down more than 11 per cent compared to 2024, bucking a two-decade upward trend.

There were 891,348 advance votes cast from Friday to Wednesday, representing about 24 per cent of all registered voters.

That compares to more than one million advance votes cast in 2024, when numbers spiked 49 per cent over the previous election.

This year’s advance voting period overlapped with the municipal election that had its final voting day last Saturday.

EBY AND DOERKSON FOCUS ON SURREY

Interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson has unveiled what he calls the “Surrey success plan” for B.C.’s second-largest city.

Both Doerkson and NDP leader Eby have been concentrating on vote-rich Surrey in the final week of the campaign.

Doerkson says his party’s plan has three pillars, health care, transit and transportation.

Both parties have pledged new hospitals and to extend the SkyTrain to Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, but differ on how to handle traffic problems, with the Conservatoves vowing to scrap an upgrade of the Massey tunnel in favour of a 10-lane bridge.

Doerkson is scheduled to hold a rally in the city that has 10 ridings later Thursday, while Eby was in Surrey on Wednesday and held a rally near city hall that drew hundreds of supporters.

The NDP leader, campaigning in Vancouver on Thursday, called Surrey “a vitally important city in the province.”

NDP VOWS TO PUT NURSE-PATIENT RATIOS INTO LAW

Eby says the NDP would put minimum nurse-to-patient ratios into law.

He says in a campaign stop outside Vancouver General Hospital, where he was surrounded by nurses and other health care workers that establishing the ratios is “technical work” and they will vary depending on what type of care is being provided.

Eby says that work is already underway, and putting the ratios into legislation will ensure “nurses are not diverted to other purposes.”

The NDP says in a statement that Eby has committed to adding 1,000 training places for nurses, nurse practitioners, allied health workers and care aides.

GREENS ROLL OUT RED CARPET FOR THE ARTS

The BC Greens have announced the party’s plan to support the arts, from the movie industry to local performing spaces.

Leader Emily Lowan says the party would make it easier to film, perform and create in B.C.

She says underinvestment in the arts and the “cost-of-living crisis” have meant the closure of community arts spaces and put “downward pressure” on artists who make the province vibrant.

The party says it will make B.C. the easiest place in North America for film permitting, bring in simpler zoning and lower fees for smaller venues booking local artists, and increase the BC Arts Council budget by more than 50 per cent to $65 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press