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 should know on day four of the 2026 BC provincial election.
Update — 12:38 p.m. PDT
Conservatives name Caroline Elliott in West Vancouver-Capilano
he Conservative Party of BC named Caroline Elliott on Friday as its candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, the North Shore seat Lynne Block has held since 2024.
The authorized account posted the graphic at 12:29 p.m. PDT and linked a candidate page that puts Elliott in North Vancouver with her husband and two children. She grew up in Surrey, holds a political-science doctorate from Simon Fraser University, and finished second to Kerry-Lynne Findlay on the May 30 leadership ballot, 51% to 49%.
“We’re pleased to announce Caroline Elliott in West Vancouver-Capilano,” the party wrote. “We’re unified and ready to bring the change BC deserves.”
Nine minutes earlier the same account had already moved the incumbent.
We’re pleased to announce Lynne Block in North Vancouver-Seymour,” it wrote, with the same unity line and a candidate page now plated for the district riding that has voted NDP in 2020 and 2024.
Update — 11:34 a.m. PDT
High-stakes rematch set for Langley–Willowbrook
Voters in Langley–Willowbrook are gearing up for a high-profile electoral rematch.
Premier David Eby’s current chief of staff, Andrew Mercier, is stepping back onto the provincial ballot to challenge Conservative incumbent Jody Toor. The showdown sets up a fierce battleground sequel after Toor narrowly unseated Mercier — then serving as a cabinet minister — in the 2024 general election by a thin margin of just 867 votes.
Mercier's entry into the local race injects heavy hitter firepower straight from the premier's inner circle into the Fraser Valley contest, ensuring Langley–Willowbrook will be one of the most closely watched ridings of the campaign.
Update — 11:19 a.m. PDT
Gasper waits for the green light
Reann Gasper says she wants to seek re-election as a Conservative in the Abbotsford-Mission riding. As of late Friday morning, the Conservative Party of BC has not said yes.
Gasper resigned the seat August 22 so Kerry-Lynne Findlay could run the September 26 byelection.
Eby’s Tuesday writ cancelled that byelection in-progress and folded the riding into the general provincial election. Findlay is no longer the Conservative name on the ballot.
Gasper is asking for the nomination. She gave the seat up unsolicited. That is her language from August 22 — “This is my decision. No one asked me to make it” — and it is the account two sources inside the party gave the Western Standard.
Other MLAs — including Rosalyn Bird, Lynne Block, and Ian Paton — had already refused to open a seat for the new leader. Gasper did it anyway, took deputy chief of staff two days later, and was chief of staff by the time Findlay resigned Sunday.
In 2024 she beat New Democrat Pam Alexis 13,523 to 10,894, 55.38% to 44.62%. Alexis is the NDP name again. Nominations close October 3 at 1 p.m. Pacific.
Update — 10:38 a.m. PDT
Eby's reaffirms support for SOGI at soggy Burnaby presser
BC Premier David Eby’s Friday morning stop in Burnaby was billed as a Trump event. By the time he took the last question it had become a mixed bag: empty condos, OpenAI, DRIPA, and SOGI in schools.
Eby’s own feed at 9:50 a.m. PDT had already shifted the pitch to housing. “Developers are sitting on thousands of finished condos while families can't find a home they can afford,” he wrote. “I'm in Burnaby at 10 a.m. PT with the plan to turn them into homes.”
Shifting focus to housing affordability during his rainy Burnaby appearance, Eby also pledged that a re-elected NDP government would introduce a 2% "empty condo tax" aimed at cracking down on vacant investment properties.
Asked about Attorney General Niki Sharma’s call for Criminal Code changes aimed at companies such as OpenAI in the wake of the Tumbler Ridge tragedy earlier this year, Eby said the firm has “demonstrated again and again and again” that companies with that kind of technology “have very little concern for British Columbians and Canadians.”
Eby pivoted briefly back to Trump on the AI question-and-answer. He said Donald Trump is “all in on AI,” and that anxiety about “antagonizing” Washington is no reason to skip national rules. “That should include criminal accountability,” he said, “especially in dealing with young people and children.”
Incidentally, Eby was also asked about recent emergency room closures impacting Tumbler Ridge, specifically. When asked about the situation facing northern residents and whether the province's emergency room strategies are meeting local needs, Eby pointed to ongoing recruitment efforts and rural training investments, acknowledging the "deep frustration" felt by communities when local health services are disrupted.
On DRIPA he repeated that a court decision has to be answered and that his government has been talking with First Nations through the summer. “It's not up for debate.”
Then he put words in the other campaign’s mouth. The Conservatives, he said, “have said they would end all negotiations with First Nations in this province.” Interim Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson has said he will repeal DRIPA. That is not the same sentence. Ending every table with every nation is Eby’s gloss.
CBC’s Katie DeRosa closed the rainy press conference on SOGI. Doerkson said Thursday the resource “has to be removed” and that schools should get back to “arithmetic and reading.”
Eby said his government “ended our relationship with the foundation that does that SOGI program” but “haven’t abandoned the essential work to prevent bullying in our schools.”
SOGI stands for sexual orientation and gender identity.
The BC Liberal government of 2016 put optional classroom resources into schools. The ARC Foundation later packaged them as SOGI 123. It is not a standalone mandated course. The NDP ended ARC’s operating grant. However, the original SOGI 123 teaching materials are still on the education ministry’s erase site.
Eby’s closer was that the question facing a student when entering a school door should not start with: “What's your opinion on SOGI? Are you trans?”
Update — 10:13 a.m. PDT
Sharma presser on Doerkson leadership limits media access
BC NDP Attorney General Niki Sharma took questions Friday morning on a Zoom the NDP closed to non-accredited media.
The crux of the presser centered on growing questions over whether Lorne Doerkson could be unseated or barred as leader under the BC Conservative Party's own constitution — a vulnerability flagged earlier in the week by the Western Standard.
As currently written, party rules prohibit an interim leader from running in the subsequent leadership contest and mandate a special leadership election within 12 months.
While the party board has signaled it intends to rewrite those bylaws if Doerkson wins government, executing that constitutional exemption would require a special resolution backed by a two-thirds vote of present members.
Sharma also said Kerry-Lynne Findlay “left just on Sunday — or was removed — because they knew an election was coming. This is a decision of their doing, not ours.”
This is not true. Findlay resigned Sunday, in her own letter, after weeks of party chaos.
Premier David Eby had, at that time, still not said he would drop a writ.
Eby stayed quiet through Sunday and Monday and asked the lieutenant-governor to dissolve the legislature Tuesday.
The timing of a snap is his call, not the BC Conservatives — who could not possibly have known about the writ drop in advance unless they were tipped off by the premier, something neither the party nor the premier has suggested.
Update — 9:10 a.m. PDT
Eby set for Trump-related presser in Burnaby
BC NDP Leader David Eby is scheduled to face reporters in Burnaby at 10 a.m. on Friday for the fourth day of the provincial election campaign.
The link to the scheduled press conference can be found below:
WATCH: David Eby’s Burnaby press conference
The appearance comes a day after Eby faced questions in Maple Ridge about his attacks on the BC Conservatives over their positions on US President Donald Trump and the province’s trade dispute with Washington.
Eby's Thursday appearance in Maple Ridge became contentious after he accused the Conservatives of being unwilling to stand up to Trump, citing past comments and actions by party members.
When asked to identify something a Conservative had said since the election was called that he considered pro-Trump, Eby paused before arguing the party was changing its position for political reasons.
He also incorrectly identified Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare as the person who had shared an image depicting parts of BC as a US protectorate — "like Guam." Eby later acknowledged the mistake, saying it was actually MLA David Williams.
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.
