PENTICTON — The first three days of the 2026 BC provincial election have already served up more excitement and consternation than a Red Bull breakfast in a Coquihalla snowstorm.
Official nominations open at 9 a.m. Friday, but the parties have already begun announcing some of their preferred candidates. Final Voting Day is Saturday, Oct. 24, with advance voting running from Oct. 16 to 21.
Here are the stories you need to know heading into day four of the 2026 BC provincial election.
BC NDP weaponizes interim leadership rule as campaign enters day four
The BC NDP has scheduled a video press conference for Friday morning, with Attorney General Niki Sharma set to raise questions about what would happen if Lorne Doerkson wins the election while still only the Conservatives' interim leader.
As reported by Fraser Valley Today, "The B.C. NDP says they will hold a media advisory tomorrow at 9 a.m.," in which Sharma will highlight what the "BC Conservatives have not disclosed about the process to make Lorne Doerkson the permanent leader of their party."
The Conservative Party's constitution bars an interim leader from later running in the leadership race that follows — a rule the party's board has said it intends to set aside by amending the constitution and bylaws should Doerkson lead the Conservatives to victory October 24, allowing him to remain permanently as leader and premier.
Eby, for his part, has never faced a Conservative — or, for that matter, an NDP leadership vote of his own. He was acclaimed leader of the BC NDP in 2022, and became premier, after John Horgan's resignation for health reasons left him the only candidate to enter the race.
A birthday to remember
The Conservative Party of BC interim Leader Lorne Doerkson celebrated his birthday Thursday by making a visit to a local food bank — something Doerkson has become known over his many years in public life.
“Twenty years in the newspaper business prepared him for weeks like this one: tight deadlines, wild headlines, and little sleep,” the authorized account wrote. “Even on your birthday, you exemplify true leadership, delivering supplies to a local food bank.”
CHEK's Rob Shaw had already confirmed the new Conservative Party of BC leader was on such a run during their midday interview.
“Interviewed @LDoerkson just now,” Shaw wrote. “He's sitting in former MLA Donna Barnett's kitchen to use her wifi for interviews on his way to deliver truck full of items to Clinton food bank.”
Doerkson, in his interview with Shaw, said he was “appalled” that Premier David Eby kept using wildfire metaphors when the snap “has shut down services for people.”
Eby's earlier use of wildfire imagery has been a self-inflicted wound early in the campaign after a July 2021 video resurfaced of Doerkson taking a media interview whilst personally putting out a wildfire wearing only a t-shirt, with the resurfaced video providing an unflattering contrast.
Reporters at a Thursday press conference in Maple Ridge repeatedly pressed the BC premier on his rhetoric, including his controversial “firebreak” metaphor, with Eby declining to directly answer some questions and pivoting instead to attacks on the Conservatives and US President Donald Trump.
Angus Reid polling data — the first polling data released by a major research firm since Tuesday's writ drop — showed the Conservatives ahead of the NDP by eight points with Doerkson at the helm.
A North Shore seat, and the name not on it
The authorized Conservative Party of BC account named Ayla Dumais in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky at 5 pm PDT Thursday.
“Ayla Dumais was raised in Squamish, BC and is a proud member of Prophet River First Nation,” the party wrote.
Prophet River First Nation is a Treaty 8 community about 100 kilometres south of Fort Nelson.
Dumais becomes the second indigenous name on the Conservative general slate, after sitting Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA Á'a:líya Warbus.
The BC Green Party's Jeremy Valeriote is the sitting MLA in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and also the first Green elected on the mainland.
In 2024 he took 10,438 votes (38.08%) to Conservative Yuri Fulmer's 9,762 (35.61%) and New Democrat Jen Ford's 7,213 (26.31%). The margin was 676.
Fulmer ran for the Conservative leadership this year and lost to Findlay, placing fourth out of five candidates.
The Western Standard noted a rumour Thursday evening that Findlay, who resigned last Sunday, had originally promised the riding to Fulmer.
Fulmer has not said so on the record. A note asking him to confirm or deny went out Thursday night, but the Western Standard did not receive a response before deadline.
The party bio puts Dumais in community relations at Woodfibre LNG, then in Official Opposition policy and stakeholder work under federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
Two more Green names on the Island
The Greens filled two Capital seats Thursday. Raj Sahota is their name in Victoria-Beacon Hill. David Evans is back in Juan de Fuca-Malahat.
Leader Emily Lowan said she was “so thrilled to welcome Raj and David to the team,” and that British Columbians are “tired of choosing between a BC NDP that hasn't delivered and a slew of conservative parties.”
Sahota is a human-rights and personal-injury lawyer who grew up in Esquimalt. The party page puts him on the board of Pacifica Housing.
Sitting New Democrat Grace Lore took Beacon Hill in 2024 with 13,634 votes (47.35%) over then-Green leader Sonia Furstenau's 9,644 (33.50%). Conservative Tim Thielmann was third at 19.15%.
Evans is set for a rematch. He took 5,522 votes (23.01%) in the same Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding in 2024. New Democrat Dana Lajeunesse held it by 141 votes over Conservative Marina Sapozhnikov after a recount — 9,308 to 9,167.
That was the tightest election anywhere on Vancouver Island in 2024.
Sturko takes the fight next door
CentreBC Leader Elenore Sturko sat down with the Western Standard Thursday and made the riding switch official in her own words.
She held the seat for Surrey-Cloverdale during the last legislature. She is running in Surrey South in this campaign. That is the riding she lives in. It is also the seat she first won, in a Liberal byelection on September 10, 2022, before the 2023 map carved Cloverdale out and she took that new card as a Conservative in 2024.
Surrey South is currently held by former Conservative MLA Brent Chapman. He posted Tuesday that he is joining OneBC after he was told he would not be permitted to run under the Conservative banner in the upcoming election. He is the husband to former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who resigned from the role on Sunday.
Asked about a one-on-one with Chapman, Sturko said she had been "embarrassed" he was a sitting MLA in the same caucus when she sat as a Conservative. She also said: "anytime, any day."
Chapman took Surrey South in 2024 with 13,056 votes (58.83%) over New Democrat Haroon Ghaffar. Sturko held Cloverdale 10,268 to 9,682 (48.31% to 45.56%) over New Democrat Mike Starchuk, a margin of 586.
She is the only sitting MLA still under the CentreBC banner after Peter Milobar and six others walked back to the Conservatives on writ day.
Two Independents, two criminal charge files
Richmond Centre Independent Hon Chan posted Thursday that he is “seriously considering seeking re-election.”
He wrote that the snap is “wholly unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers' money,” that he is ramping up as an Independent, and that he will also be “in discussions with other parties.” His stated goal is “to defeat the NDP and continue fighting for the people of Richmond.”
Chan took Richmond Centre in 2024 with 8,426 votes (51.99%) over New Democrat Henry Yao's 5,961 (36.78%).
Interim Conservative Leader Trevor Halford removed him from caucus March 26, the day after the BC Prosecution Service said he had been charged with assault, assault by choking and uttering threats. The alleged offences are dated January 12, 2024, in Richmond — nine months before the last general election.
A special prosecutor, Andi MacKay, has had the file since June 27, 2025.
Chan pleaded not guilty August 27 in Richmond provincial court and elected a jury trial. He waived a preliminary hearing, which sends the case to BC Supreme Court.
None of the charges have been proven. He has said he is innocent until proven guilty and would not resign the seat.
Peace River North Independent Jordan Kealy is further along. He said Tuesday he will run again as an Independent.
Kealy won the riding in 2024 with 11,213 votes (74.36%) over former Liberal Dan Davies, who ran Independent after BC United stood down. That represented the widest margin victory of any BC Conservative in the last election.
He left the Conservative caucus March 7, 2025, with Tara Armstrong after John Rustad removed Dallas Brodie, and has remained an Independent MLA ever since.
The BC Prosecution Service charged him June 3 with one count of sexual assault. The alleged offences are dated between January 1 and September 20, 2024, before he was elected.
Special prosecutor Gail Barnes has that file. A publication ban covers the complainant.
Kealy has denied the allegation, said he will not resign, and elected a jury trial at his July 6 first appearance in Fort St. John.