PENTICTON — Day 17 of the British Columbia provincial election campaign opened with matching campaign promises. Both main parties have now pledged $15 million toward a provincial Filipino cultural centre, demonstrating the importance both major political parties are placing on winning support from ethnic community voting blocks in tight, potentially decisive swing ridings.
With the election writ issued September 22 and general voting day scheduled for October 24, campaign commitments are accelerating. Advance polling opens October 16, following the televised leadership debate on October 14. Civic election day falls on October 17.
Update — 9:27 a.m. PDT
Thursday's itineraries
David Eby is expected in Richmond at 10 a.m. PDT while Lorne Doerkson is set for Surrey at 11 a.m. PDT.
A Canadian Press file this morning says the Conservatives will spend a second day in Surrey and that Doerkson will make a policy announcement. It is anticipated that Doerkson will make another policy announcement on reducing taxes.
Richmond and Surrey will be key battlegrounds in the 2026 BC provincial election.
Richmond has four seats and Surrey has 10. In 2024, the Conservatives won three Richmond ridings and six in Surrey. The NDP secured a one-seat majority, and Garry Begg won Surrey-Guildford by just 22 votes — 8,947 to 8,925.
In Richmond, Conservative Teresa Wat won Richmond-Bridgeport by 3,987 votes. She has sat as an independent since Aug. 26 but is again running for the Conservatives. Conservative Steve Kooner won Richmond-Queensborough by 1,339 votes. Hon Chan won Richmond Centre by 2,465 votes but is not seeking re-election.
NDP MLA Kelly Greene won Richmond-Steveston by 484 votes, defeating her Conservative opponent 10,332 to 9,848. Greene is not seeking re-election; in a letter posted on X on the day the writs were issued, she said she would not run again. The Steveston candidates are Bruce Kong for the NDP, Gordon Zhang for the Conservatives and Barry Wosk for CentreBC.
Several Surrey ridings were also closely contested in 2024. Amna Shah won Surrey City Centre by 232 votes, Bryan Tepper won Surrey-Panorama by 263, Linda Hepner won Surrey-Serpentine River by 435, Elenore Sturko won Surrey-Cloverdale by 586 and Jagrup Brar won Surrey-Fleetwood by 753.
Hepner is also not seeking re-election. Sturko, elected in Surrey-Cloverdale, is running for CentreBC in Surrey South. Brent Chapman, who won Surrey South by 3,920 votes, is yet another incumbent not seeking re-election.
The remaining Surrey results were less close: Jessie Sunner won Surrey-Newton by 1,266 votes, Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal won Surrey-North by 1,159, and Trevor Halford won Surrey-White Rock by 1,969.
The same cheque, two party letterheads
A bidding war began Wednesday afternoon when BC NDP Leader David Eby announced in Vancouver-Strathcona that a re-elected NDP government would "invest" $15 million into the proposed provincial Filipino cultural centre.
Speaking at Kulinarya restaurant alongside supporters, Eby described the facility as "long overdue" to honour the "vibrant history" and "hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who call B.C. home."
Just 27 minutes later, the BC Conservatives matched the NDP pledge. A party release datelined Vancouver and issued under interim leader Lorne Doerkson committed $15 million in provincial funding, claiming the commitment would "unlock $15 million in federal matching funds" for a $30 million project total.
"We owe Filipino British Columbians so much," Doerkson said in the release. "They've cared for our patients, kept our businesses running and strengthened every community they call home."
Neither party attached a timeline, site location, or detailed cost breakdown to their $15 million promises.
The claim of federal matching funds also remains unconfirmed. While Ottawa’s 2025 federal budget listed a Metro Vancouver Filipino cultural centre among projects under a new infrastructure fund, it provided no financial figure.
Former NDP MLA Mable Elmore noted in November 2025 that federal funding amounts had yet to be determined.
Additionally, several Filipino organizations are advancing competing proposals across Metro Vancouver, including locations in Burnaby and Vancouver.
A leading proposal reported by Daily Hive involves a two-tower mixed-use development at 1940 Main St. and 143 East 3rd Ave., featuring a cultural centre on the lower floors and hotel revenues helping offset operating costs. The concept received preliminary approval from Vancouver city council in late 2025, while a temporary 1,500-square-foot facility at Library Square is also in development.
The campaign promises from the NDP and Conservatives are actually a re-run from similar campaign pledges on behalf of the NDP and BC Greens in the last provincial election.
On October 15, 2024, the Mabuhay House Society confirmed receiving support letters from the NDP and Greens, but noted no response from the Conservatives prior to publication.
Unlike in 2026, in the 2024 campaign, the project lacked any dollar figure.
William Canero, the society's vice-chair, noted at the time that no funds were attached. While the province issued a $250,000 planning grant to Mabuhay House on April 14, 2023 — following a December 7, 2022 mandate letter — the centre remains unbuilt.
No 2026 Green Party figure has been announced.
From campaign promises to insurance schemes
While party leaders compete over cultural centre funding promises, members of the same Filipino community being offered a cultural centre "investment" remain bound to a far more rigid financial reality that has become another campaign talking point for both parties — ICBC's "no fault" insurance regime.
On April 26, 2025, 11 people were killed and more than 20 injured when a vehicle struck crowd members at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver.
Because the deaths and injuries resulted from a motor vehicle incident, surviving families were placed under ICBC’s "Enhanced Care" no-fault insurance regime, which came into effect on May 1, 2021.
The no-fault framework replaced traditional court lawsuits with a mandatory payout schedule. Legal experts quickly highlighted the system's strict limits.
Personal injury lawyer Ryan Kusuhara of Panorama Law Group noted following the tragedy that no-fault benefits pose a "serious hurdle" for victims, offering benefits roughly three to four times lower than former tort settlements and capping child death benefits in the tens of thousands.
Greg Phillips, then-president of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, noted that ICBC pays pre-set amounts "regardless of the impact on surviving families." Phillips added that Section 116 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act, which allows tort claims in cases of criminal conviction, likely offers no relief if an accused driver is found not criminally responsible.
ICBC maintains that Enhanced Care benefits families by dispensing financial assistance immediately without awaiting lengthy court settlements.
Efforts to review the system were halted when the election writ dropped on September 22. A legislative committee reviewing Enhanced Care was disbanded on its second day of scheduled hearings after receiving 144 individual and 30 organizational submissions.
Conservative MLA Brennan Day, serving as committee deputy chair, stated that "the system failed" the Lapu Lapu Day families. NDP MLA Stephanie Higginson, who chaired the committee, stated a re-elected NDP government would resume the review, though the party did not commit to no-fault reform in its campaign platform.
A September 29 Conservative proposal outlined replacing no-fault with a hybrid system and introducing private insurance competition to lower rates, though it offered no provisions to alter existing claims for Lapu Lapu Day families.
Eby has made a so-called "secret letter" sent by the Conservatives to trial lawyers on changes to the no-fault insurance regime a key campaign plank this week, bringing the topic up again during his strip-mall press conference in Newton on Wednesday.
Veteran BC reporter Vaughn Palmer has also made the letter a key focus of his throughout the week. His Vancouver Sun column, published Wednesday, is headlined "Lorne Doerkson has his first big problem of the campaign."
The letter is dated September 29. It went to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, the Law Society and the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association.
It says a Conservative government will replace no-fault with a hybrid, that people with serious injuries will get a court claim back, that the bill would come in the first year, and that "everything is on the table, including opening auto insurance to private competition to drive down auto insurance rates."
It also says the 2024 Legal Professions Act changes would be repealed.
Palmer writes that Doerkson told reporters on September 28 the party was "considering an auto insurance policy" and would "come back to that another day." British Columbians learned the contents, he writes, when MoveUP, the ICBC workers' union, released the letter Tuesday.
He writes that Doerkson then told reporters, "I'm not promising anything," and "There's been no promises made by me at all."
When Palmer questioned him at a news conference about those conflicting statements, Doerkson offered a partial apology while disputing the government's characterization of a "secret letter."
The irony lies in the NDP's aggressive messaging surrounding the September 29 Conservative letter: while Premier David Eby continues to frame Lorne Doerkson’s proposal as a unprecedented "secret deal" with trial lawyers, history reveals his own party took an nearly identical stance when in opposition.
Media personality and former BC Liberal MLA Jas Johal highlighted this parallel on social media, pointing to a February 2017 letter written on Legislative Assembly letterhead by then-NDP MLA Adrian Dix.
In that document, Dix quoted former Premier John Horgan as declaring "No to no-fault," promising that an NDP government would not restrict the legal rights of drivers or limit court access—the exact commitments the NDP now attacks Doerkson for making.
Additionally, Johal noted that while the NDP portrays Doerkson’s document as a clandestine leak, it was distributed broadly across the legal community, reaching a significant portion of the province's estimated 14,000 practicing lawyers.
Legal observers have also pointed out the ultimate twist in the NDP’s stance: after campaigning against no-fault insurance in 2017, the NDP government completely reversed course once in power, officially enacting the current "Enhanced Care" no-fault regime in May 2021.
BC Greens take to the park
BC Green Party leader Emily Lowan used some Vancouver green space on Wednesday night to say David Eby has capitulated.
"Whether that's on DRIPA, whether that's on involuntary care, whether that's on pipeline development — we have seen him capitulate at every turn," Lowan said in front of a group of supporter, some of whom were wearing K95 masks outside.
The Greens have 73 candidates in the provincial race on their slate.
The program she is selling against the party's proposed "Extreme Wealth Tax."
It would tax net wealth over $50 million. The one-time rate starts at 5% above $50 million, 10% above $100 million and 20% above $1 billion.
The annual rate, from the second year, starts at 2%, 3% and 5% on the same steps. The party says that raises about $22.2 billion in the first year, after administration and behavioural responses, and about $5.4 billion a year after.
Western Standard asked the Greens whether a principal residence would be exempt, whether the tax would fall on corporations or only on individuals, and whether a person who had not sold anything would be expected to borrow to pay it. No reply has come back.
Vancouver mayoral debate set for tonight
With all eyes glued to the provincial race, municipal politics continues to chug along in the background — remember those?
The Vancouver Sun offered a fresh reminder Wednesday morning, publishing a promotional graphic for its mayoral debate, with coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT.
Hosted by Dan Fumano and Stuart McNish, the forum features five candidates vying for attention ahead of the October 17 civic voting day: Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver, Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver, Colleen Hardwick of TEAM, Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals, and Pete Fry of the Green Party of Vancouver.