PENTICTON — The 2026 BC provincial election campaign is entering its first weekend, with voting scheduled for October 24. The major developments to watch are reports of a BC NDP campaign war room in a dither, the Conservative leadership transition, candidate nominations, and the competing parties' policy announcements.
Ordinary nominations opened Friday at 9 a.m. They close October 3 at 1 p.m. Pacific. Final voting day is Saturday, October 24. Advance polls run October 16 to 21.
Here is what you need to know as we head into day five of the election campaign.
BC War Room in 'panic-mode'
Two sources told the Western Standard the NDP campaign is disorganized, struggling to find committed candidates, is failing to pull the union delegates it usually counts on, has existing caucus members still sitting on the fence in terms of seeking re-election, and has slipped into a general “panic-mode” since the public reaction to Eby’s Tuesday writ.
Apparently several NDP incumbents want to retire and Eby’s team is “desperately trying to convince them otherwise.”
One commentator called candidate recruitment “woeful” and said that is why the New Democrats have “so few confirmed compared to” the Conservatives.
Local campaigns, he wrote, are “desperate for workers, lists, and central support” and “feel they are being hung out to dry.” One person, he said, used the phrase “save the furniture.”
Four ministers have already said they will not run: Lana Popham, Kelly Greene, Ravi Kahlon and Brenda Bailey.
The New Democrats, political strategist Jonathan Ross wrote on Saturday, have asked municipal candidates to “pick a side,” including former Richmond Centre MLA Henry Yao, now running for mayor of Richmond, and have so far had refusals.
He said the party is also “trying strong arm tactics with workers and volunteers who have been embedded in various campaigns for several months.”
Fulmer will not run
Yuri Fulmer took himself off the ballot Saturday morning.
“Over the last few days, over six thousand members of the Conservative Party and the wider community have reached out to me asking if I will be running,” he wrote. “I am grateful to our former Leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay and to our current Leader, Lorne Doerkson for asking me to run in the coming election.” He neglected to name the riding, if any, he was asked to run in.
He quoted outgoing New Democrat Ravi Kahlon: “Family comes first.”
His children are young, he wrote, and that “This is not my time.”
Fulmer said he will vote Conservative, Doerkson has his “full and unequivocal support,” and that he spent three days in a car with the interim leader during the leadership race.
He asked the party, if Doerkson wins October 24, to “dispense with any leadership review" — a contentious issue both within, and outside, the Conservative Party of BC that BC NDP Attorney General Niki Sharma and BC NDP forestry minister Ravi Parmar jumped on Friday morning.
The Conservatives named Ayla Dumais in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky on Thursday. That is the card Fulmer almost took in 2024. Green Jeremy Valeriote won it 10,438 to 9,762, a margin of 676. CentreBC named Dan Wood there Friday.
Fulmer’s Saturday letter does not mention Dumais, Wood or the riding.
“We have one, and only one, task ahead,” he wrote, “and that is to defeat David Eby and the NDP.”
CentreBC puts a name on Eby's door
CentreBC opened Saturday by naming a candidate in the premier’s own riding.
“We’re excited to welcome Michael Davis, our CentreBC candidate for Vancouver–Point Grey,” the party wrote. The graphic billed Davis as experiences in communications, government relations and community leadership.
Davis is not a walk-in candidate. He has been the party’s secretary since the June 20 AGM, where he was acclaimed onto the eight-member executive and credited with drafting the constitution and bylaws the membership adopted that day. “Having a proper constitution and bylaws is foundational,” he said then.
He was also the published media contact on earlier CentreBC releases. Global’s Ben O’Hara-Byrne called him a candidate with “a ton of political experience.”
Eby has held Point Grey since he beat Christy Clark in 2013. In 2024 he took 12,538 votes (56.77%) to Conservative Paul Ratchford’s 7,622 (34.51%). Margin 4,916.
Vancouver-Point Grey is sometimes called "the premier's riding," with three of the last four premier's being the candidate of choice in the electoral district. Gordon Campbell held it into the premier’s office from 2001 until he quit in 2011. Christy Clark, already premier, won the May 2011 byelection in the riding. David Eby beat her on May 14, 2013, 11,499 to 10,436 — a margin of 1,063 — and became premier from the same riding on November 18, 2022. Going way back, Kim Campbell sat the older dual-member version in 1986–88 before she left for Ottawa.
Findlay has not said whether she will run
The former leader of the Conservative Party of BC's last public post remains her Sunday’s resignation letter.
A high-level Conservative source told the Western Standard the next afternoon that the party would not be letting let her run in any riding as a Conservative. Neither is a statement from her.
As of Saturday afternoon, Findlay has not confirmed whether she will run for OneBC.
Her husband has. Former BC Conservative MLA Brent Chapman holds Surrey South, the riding she lives in. He posted Tuesday that he is joining OneBC.
As reported by CKNW radio host and former BC Liberal MLA Jas Johal on the Jas Johal Show on Friday, OneBC says it will run candidates in all 93 ridings. As of Saturday afternoon, they've only announced four candidates: leader Dallas Brodie, Chapman, Jim McMurtry, and Warren Hamm.
Adding to the intrigue in Surrey South, CentreBC Leader Elenore Sturko is moving into the riding's ballot from Surrey-Cloverdale. She told Western Standard Thursday she would debate Chapman “anytime, any day.”
The Conservatives filled the same card Friday evening with White Rock Mayor Megan Knight.
Knight can legally occupy both ballots. Elections BC has said provincial and local contests are separate statutes. There is no rule against filing in both. There is a rule against holding both.
The Eligibility to Hold Public Office Act, in force May 28, 2025, bars an MLA from sitting on a local council at the same time. Misty Van Popta was the test case: Langley Township councillor in 2022, Conservative MLA in 2024, then stripped of the local seat when the Act came in.
White Rock’s civic nomination period is closed. Knight’s name stays on the October 17 mayoral ballot against Councillor Susan Bains and realtor Chris Shields.
Daily Hive reported Friday she is no longer pursuing another mayoral term. She has not posted a withdrawal of her own. If she wins White Rock on the 17th and Surrey South on the 24th, she loses the mayor’s chair once she is certified as an MLA. If she wins the city and loses the riding, she stays mayor. If she loses the city and wins the riding, she goes to Victoria.
An NDP name has not been posted as of Saturday afternoon.
Chapman took the riding in 2024 with 13,056 votes (58.83%) over New Democrat Haroon Ghaffar.