PENTICTON — Seven days after the writ dropped, the party leader campaign tours finally split the map on Monday, with Premier David Eby venturing to the North Coast while Interim Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson brings his policy rollout to Vancouver.
With candidate nominations closing at 1:00 p.m. Pacific on Saturday, October 3, and final voting day set for Saturday, October 24, exactly 26 days remain after Monday. Municipal voters will also head to the polls on October 17 for civic elections, though the two contests do not share a ballot.
Eby heads north
David Eby departed the Lower Mainland for the North Coast on Sunday, and is set to make a major campaign stop in Prince Rupert.
Prince Rupert is home to Canada’s third-largest port and the closest major North American harbour to Asian markets. Prior to flying north, Eby spoke to media at an event in Kamloops addressing recent events in the Interior.
On the tarmac, Eby strongly condemned recent actions by white supremacists near Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, calling the conduct “disgusting and disgraceful.”
Prince Rupert sits within the North Coast-Haida Gwaii riding, currently held by Environment Minister Tamara Davidson. In 2024, Davidson won the seat with 4,863 votes (64.92%) over Conservative candidate Chris Sankey’s 2,628 votes, on a total turnout of 48.60% (7,491 valid ballots out of 15,518 registered voters). Neither the Conservatives nor the Greens have locked in their 2026 nominees for the riding yet.
Campaigning will see a brief administrative pause mid-week, as Elections BC district offices will be closed on Wednesday for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Doerkson brings Conservative policy push to Vancouver
Interim Conservative Party Leader Lorne Doerkson will have a much shorter trip than Eby to kick off his week, as his campaign tour moves from Surrey to Vancouver on Monday morning for another policy announcement.
The announcement follows a Sunday release in Surrey where Doerkson pledged he “will never raise taxes on British Columbians” throughout “the entirety of his government.” Sunday's announcement did not propose cuts to existing taxes on the books.
The tax pledge follows fiscal adjustments in Budget 2026, which raised the lowest personal income tax rate from 5.06% to 5.60% and froze bracket indexation from 2027 through 2030. Premier Eby previously paused a scheduled 7% PST expansion onto professional services on September 18, while introducing a new unsold-condo levy last Friday.
Under Article 12 of the party constitution, Doerkson serves as interim leader and is barred from seeking the permanent leadership in the next contest; the pledge reflects party policy for a future Conservative administration following October 24.
Conservatives nominate Alex McMillan in Vancouver-Point Grey
In one of the most high-profile candidate reveals of the campaign so far, the Conservatives announced business executive Alex McMillan to challenge Premier David Eby in his home riding of Vancouver-Point Grey.
McMillan served as interim CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce from June 2025 until January 2026 following the departure of Fiona Famulak. A former public relations specialist and senior adviser at the Mining Association of BC, McMillan founder of consultancy McMillan Solutions, and has a background in government relations within the forestry sector alongside past senior political and civil service roles in Victoria.
The appointment drew immediate commentary from former BC Liberal MLA Jas Johal.
“A strong private sector economy is the basis of our collective prosperity,” Johal posted. “This is exactly the type of candidate we need to see running.”
Vancouver-Point Grey has a notable electoral history, having been represented by three consecutive B.C. premiers: Gordon Campbell, Christy Clark, and David Eby. Eby first won the seat in a May 2013 by-election against then-Premier Clark by a margin of 11,499 to 10,436. In 2024, Eby secured re-election with 12,538 votes (56.77%) over Conservative Paul Ratchford (7,622 votes) and Green candidate Devyani Singh (1,925 votes) on a 63.43% turnout.
CentreBC has nominated party secretary Michael Davis in the riding. Green Party nominations for Vancouver-Point Grey remain open ahead of the October 3 filing cutoff.
NDP retirement speculation swirls ahead of nomination deadline
Unconfirmed reports continue to circulate regarding potential further departures within the governing BC NDP caucus.
Social media reports late Sunday indicated that one or two additional BC NDP incumbents might announce they are not seeking re-election.
While four cabinet ministers — Lana Popham, Kelly Greene, Ravi Kahlon, and Brenda Bailey — have already confirmed they will not be on the October 24 ballot, no fifth candidate departure has been officially confirmed by the party or individual MLAs.
Insiders note that the party’s war room has been working to retain existing incumbents where possible as candidate packages are finalized.
The Western Standard has learned from a party source over the weekend that the likelihood of of one, maybe two, BC NDP incumbents announcing they are not seeking re-election on Monday is "extremely high."
OneBC rumours denied in Penticton-Summerland
Following late-night speculation that a candidate from OneBC might pull out before submitting nomination papers, the party’s local designate responded before dawn.
Reports surfaced late Sunday night suggesting murmurs that a OneBC candidate was preparing to back out of the race. However, Warren Hamm, the party's designate for Penticton-Summerland, directly shut down those reports early Monday morning.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Hamm posted at 5:03 a.m. PDT Monday. “Nice try Cheryl" — presumably in reference to BC NDP campaign head Cheryl Oates.
The Western Standard can confirm the candidate rumoured to be pulling out ahead of the nomination is not Hamm.
Hamm was the first general-election candidate announced by OneBC on September 16. The party’s slate also includes Dallas Brodie (Vancouver-Quilchena), Brent Chapman (Surrey South), Robin Roy (Abbotsford South), AJ Wolfe (Kootenay-Rockies), and Hunter Corrigal (Kootenay Central).
None of the six have been formally accepted by Elections BC yet, as party lists continue to finalize ahead of the October 3 deadline.