PENTICTON — On day six of the 2026 BC provincial election, the Conservatives are hitting the road for their first official campaign stop of the election cycle, choosing a familiar battleground for their opening policy rollout.
Doerkson targets Surrey for first official campaign stop
The Conservative Party of BC is set to kick off its official campaign trail in Surrey on Sunday, following the exact geographic playbook used by the New Democrats last week.
Global's Ben O’Hara-Byrne shared the party’s media advisory on Saturday afternoon, noting Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson will deliver the party's first policy announcement from the same battleground city the New Democrats launched their campaign.
The New Democrats launched their health file from Peace Arch Provincial Park in Surrey one day after the writ dropped, where Leader David Eby pledged to aggressively expand recruitment for American health-care workers.
While Sunday marks Doerkson’s first billed campaign announcement, he has maintained a visible presence since the writ dropped — taking questions at Crab Park in Vancouver, engaging in media interviews, and appearing alongside Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and former premier Christy Clark at BC Place.
Canadian Press reported Saturday that the party's full tour and platform continue to come together as they prepare for the weeks ahead.
Eby's American sweater
NDP Leader David Eby spent Saturday night selling voters on a "Built in B.C. and Canada" program, but his choice of wardrobe overshadowed the message.
"A province that builds its own future with its own hands is a province nobody can push around," Eby said in the clip. "That’s why I’ll bring in ‘Built in B.C. and Canada’ rules for every public project we build."
Eagle-eyed social media users and commentators were quick to point out the prominent black label sitting on the left chest of the garment: Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing brand headquartered in Ventura, California.
Mo Amir, a CBC and Sitka Media political commentator, noted the apparent hypocrisy Saturday evening.
“BC NDP leader David Eby just announced his ‘Built in BC and Canada’ plan — but did he break his own rules?” the Sitka Media account wrote, crediting Amir.
Veteran BC journalist Bob Mackin quote-posted the original Eby clip with a zoomed-in view on the Patagonia logo: “You can delete the original video, @dave_eby, but you can’t delete the label for U.S.A. headquartered Patagonia.”
The NDP named no one
The New Democrats spent Saturday on promoting its "Built in B.C. and Canada" plan, its unsold condo tax proposal, and continuing to question the stability of Lorne Doerkson's leadership should the BC Conservatives win the election. They did not name a single candidate.
The authorized account posted twice after noon. At 12:28 p.m. PDT it asked who would be premier if the Conservatives win, and answered “Nobody knows.” At 1:02 p.m. it recycled the Unsold Condo Tax and wrote that Eby “won’t back down.”
The Conservative authorized account named at least ten people on Saturday alone. Keenan Adams in Port Coquitlam at 12:38 p.m. PDT. Kris McNichol in Ladysmith-Oceanside. Ryan Windsor in Saanich North and the Islands. Cathie Ounsted in Saanich South. Margareta Dovgal in Vancouver-Yaletown. Darryl Kropp in Abbotsford-Mission. Alexander Muir in Vancouver-Little Mountain. Simon Chandler. Deep Singh Sandhu in Vancouver-Fraserview. Zeeshan Wahla in Surrey City Centre at 7:19 p.m. PDT.
CentreBC had already put four names up Saturday morning. Even OneBC put three up Saturday afternoon.
Jonathan Ross wrote Saturday morning that NDP candidate recruitment was “woeful” and that local campaigns felt “hung out to dry.” Two sources, one inside the party, had already told Western Standard the war room was in “panic-mode.”
On Saturday evening, another source in the party told Western Standard the opposite — the BC NDP already had candidates set for all 93 ridings and that candidate recruitment concerns were being exaggerated and overblown.
A BC Conservative youth movement
Three of the new Conservative names on the 2026 BC election slate are nearly a generation younger than some of the incumbents they are chasing.
Margareta Dovgal is 24 or 25. She said “I’m 24” on a February TikTok at the federal Conservative convention. The party named her in Vancouver-Yaletown at 4:12 p.m. PDT Saturday.
She faces Community Safety minister of state Terry Yung. In 2024 Yung took 9,018 votes (49.76%) to Melissa De Genova’s 7,857. Margin 1,161.
Alexander Muir landed ninety minutes later in Vancouver-Little Mountain, the housing minister’s seat.
The party wrote he “isn’t afraid of a scrum” and is “ready to fight for young British Columbians who want to build a life here.” Muir is a star rugby player who worked as a communications staffer for federal Conservative leader Pierre Poileivre. His sports bio has him listed as 20-years-old.
He faces BC NDP incumbent and housing minister Christine Boyle. She took the new seat in 2024 with 15,636 votes (62.11%) to John Coupar’s 7,704 — a wide voting margin of 7,932.
Ayla Dumais was named Thursday in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
A March 2024 nation profile called her a first-year UBC political-science student with plans for law. Squamish hereditary chief Dale Harry called her a “bright young Indigenous woman” after a 2024 federal internship. Social media posts have her in early-20s.
Dumais is a First Nations candidate, joining Á’a:líya Warbus as the second indigenous woman on a Conservative Party of BC election slate.
She enters a closely watched riding held by Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote, who won the seat by a 676-vote margin over Yuri Fulmer in 2024. CentreBC previously named Dan Wood in the riding on Friday, while Fulmer officially withdrew from the ballot on Saturday morning.
The Ogopogo pictures
A Friday picture from downtown Kelowna sparked a fiery social media debate over the weekend.
Gavin Dew, the Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission, posted three photographs at 10:47 a.m. PDT Friday. He wrote they came from a friend. A woman can be seen slumped over the Ogopogo play structure in Kerry Park with a crystal meth pipe visible underneath her. “Realtime update from a friend: this what David Eby has given Kelowna,” Dew wrote.
Castanet’s Colin Dacre put the pictures on the local paper Friday afternoon and called it a drug user passed out on the statue. Dew later wrote the person was “openly using drugs in the middle of the day on a play structure built for children, in the heart of our tourism district.” He also wrote the frame “deliberately doesn’t include a face.”
Grace Lore, the NDP MLA for Victoria-Beacon Hill, replied at 12:29 p.m. PDT Friday.
“Gavin - don’t do this. This is someone obviously sick & extremely vulnerable. Who knows what else she’s been through. Fight for what you think is right, but take this down. We can debate the path forward and the tools to use, but this isn’t it. Do better here. This is a person.”
Dew answered in the same thread. “Grace, don’t do this.” He blamed decriminalization and said Victoria is “dragging its heels on properly implementing policies like mandatory care.” “Pretending it isn’t happening doesn’t make it go away.”
Amelia Boultbee, the former Conservative now sitting NDP in Penticton-Summerland, meanwhuiile, told Dew the woman was “someone’s loved one” and to take the post down. Dew pointed her at unused capacity at the Oliver correctional centre for mandatory care.
By late Friday the original post had more than 245,000 views. It is still up as of Sunday morning.
