VANCOUVER — Wednesday is day 30 of the 2026 British Columbia provincial election in what has been the longest month in many of our lives. Advance voting places open at 8 a.m. local time and close at 8 p.m. It is the last call for those seeking to cast their ballot early.
Update — 9:45 a.m. PDT
The Greens rise and the NDP dive
Published polls continue to show the Conservatives ahead, with a new poll from Mainstreet Research showing a late-campaign surge for the BC Greens at the expense of the BC NDP.
A Mainstreet Research IVR survey of 907 adults, fielded October 17-18 and released October 21, put Conservatives at 41.7% and the NDP at 36.0% among decided voters, with Greens at 14.6%, OneBC at 5.0% and CentreBC at 2.6%.
Among all responses the Conservatives led 38.4% to 32.2%, with 10.6% undecided.
When undecided respondents were asked which party they were leaning toward, the Conservatives stood at 39.5% and the NDP at 34.1%.
Angus Reid (October 15-19) had Conservatives at 46% and NDP at 43% among decided and leaning. Innovative Research (same window) had 43-38. Earlier Leger, Ipsos, Pallas and Research Co. surveys also showed Conservatives leading by two to five points.
Seat models (Vote-Scope, Poliwave) project a Conservative majority in the mid-50s range, with the NDP in the mid-30s to low 40s.
The same Mainstreet survey asked whether respondents approved of the snap election call. 13.5% strongly approved and 23.9% somewhat approved, for a combined 37.4%. 15.3% somewhat disapproved and 37.3% strongly disapproved, for a combined 52.6%. 10.0% said they did not know.
On the direction of the province, 52.1% said British Columbia is on the right track and 26.5% said the wrong track. 21.4% did not know.
Cost of living was the top issue named by 44.7% of respondents. Jobs and the economy followed at 15.3%, crime and safety at 14.1%, and services for seniors at 11.6%. Transportation and congestion, public transit and infrastructure each sat below 6%.
The envelope
The BC Conservatives filed a complaint with Elections BC on Tuesday over a letter the NDP mailed to voters.
The letter is signed by Dr. Habib Ur-Rehman, a family physician on the North Shore who moved to BC from England in early 2025. It urges support for the NDP and warns against potential health-care cuts under a Conservative government.
The envelope uses phrases such as “voting information enclosed,” “time sensitive — open immediately,” and “your participation is critical.” A disclaimer that the mail-out was authorized by the NDP appears only in small print on a second page.
Conservatives said the letter contains false information and could be mistaken for official Elections BC material, particularly by seniors.
Eby dismissed the complaint at a media availability on Tuesday, saying the party uses direct mailers among other tools and that the letter’s message is clear: the doctor came to BC for the public system and does not want cuts.
Elections BC will review the complaint. It is not known whether an investigation will follow.
'No one believes you'
The same day, Eby was in Kelowna announcing a $30 million pledge to finish the unused sixth floor of Kelowna General Hospital as a permanent inpatient unit. The floor has sat empty since the Centennial Tower opened in 2012.
Planning was already underway, the NDP said. The money would come in part from the party’s proposed tax increases on higher earners. Reporters pressed the timing and the staffing question.
Cole Hogan posted the exchange:
One reporter asked why the announcement was being made as a campaign stop when both the province and Interior Health had previously denied the empty floor was a problem, and why it was coming just days before the vote.
Another reported noted the sixth floor has been empty for well over a decade and asked about the optics.
A third asked how the unit would be staffed given shortages everywhere.
A fourth asked Eby’s message to voters worried that pledges could become another "broken promise."
Eby said the expansion is part of the costed platform and will be delivered.
Small Fry no more
Vancouver’s mayor-elect Pete Fry endorsed BC Green Leader Emily Lowan on Tuesday.
Fry, who defeated incumbent Ken Sim on Saturday, travelled to Sidney and joined Lowan for door-knocking in her Saanich North and the Islands riding. He said he was supporting her as leader of the BC Green Party and credited her vision for part of his own municipal success.
Somewhat awkwardly, Fry had appeared at a David Eby event the day before. He made clear that presence was not an endorsement of the Premier.
Lowan, speaking in an interview posted by Aaron Pete, said of Eby: “Frankly, regardless of the results of this election, I think his days are numbered.”
A former minister’s account
Lowan wasn’t the only person who spent Tuesday taking shots at Premier David Eby.
Former NDP finance minister Selina Robinson, who sat in cabinet under both Eby and John Horgan, told an interviewer that Eby is “not an easy premier to work with” and “likes to control things.”
She said, in contrast, that former BC NDP Premier Horgan was “a delight to work with.”
Offering an example, Robinson described a discussion about putting a daycare in the legislative building while the $10-a-day program rolled out.
Under Horgan the answer was no. He said it would be “the last place that gets a daycare” because “we can’t be seen to be ahead of British Columbians.” She said Horgan asked caucus what they were hearing at the door and the group set platform priorities together.
Under Eby, she said, “he just decided where we were going and we just went there.”
Asked whether Eby is a good man, Robinson said, “I don’t think he’s a good leader… I don’t know that he likes people.”
She called him possibly “a person who likes power” who reacts to problems instead of consulting.
On Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson she said she does not know him well but called him “a really nice man who’s thoughtful and patient.” When his constituents needed help, she said, Doerkson called her finance ministry office himself instead of sending an assistant.
McCallum’s station stop
While Vancouver’s newest mayor endorsed Lowan on Tuesday, it appears both major parties have endorsed McCallum’s promise to build a SkyTrain extension out to Newton.
Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson and NDP Leader David Eby both issued statements Tuesday morning committing to a SkyTrain extension along King George Boulevard to Newton Town Centre. The releases came about 20 minutes apart.
Doerkson’s Conservatives said a Conservative government would work with the federal government to fund and build the line, delivering it on time and on budget.
Eby’s NDP said a re-elected NDP government would support the extension and work with McCallum, noting $250 million already earmarked in the party platform for transit expansion in the corridor.
McCallum has described the Conservative pledge as a commitment to build and the NDP position as an offer to discuss.
Eby’s racism framing not landing with visible minorities
The timing lands in a city expected to decide several seats. Innovative Research, fielded October 15 to 19, put Conservatives at 43% and the NDP at 38% among decided voters. The firm’s president Greg Lyle noted Conservatives hold leads among Punjabi and Chinese speakers. That gap, he said, makes it hard for the NDP to hold seats such as Surrey-Guildford, Surrey-Fleetwood, Surrey City Centre, Surrey-Panorama and Richmond-Steveston.
Election modeller @RealAlbanianPat posted Tuesday that the NDP is polling lowest among Chinese and Punjabi speakers and that the party might lose every seat in Surrey and Richmond.
Visible minorities appear to be tiring of the culture-war narratives even as those communities remain a target audience for the NDP’s messaging.
In a May 2025 legislature statement, for example, NDP MLA Rohini Arora urged non-indigenous people, and "white folks in particular," to "self-identify as settlers, colonizers or uninvited guests." Critics have called the language anti-white.
Surrey and Richmond remain significant battlegrounds and could very likely be the determining factor in the BC election.