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.
Update — 3:55 p.m. PDT
Masked gathering in Kamloops
A Facebook still Sunday morning showed masked men in black clothing, hats and white face coverings on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc land in close proximity to the historic Kamloops Indian Residential School.
CFJC Today’s Elora McCormack, who first reported the incident, called it "an apparent white nationalist gathering."
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is Wednesday.
Conservative Party of BC interim leader Doerkson posted at 11:57 a.m. PDT. “The white nationalist gathering on Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc land this morning was hateful and meant to intimidate. It has no place in British Columbia, and BC Conservatives condemn it completely. We stand with the people of Tk'emlúps, and we expect the RCMP to investigate fully.”
CentreBC leader Sturko posted at 2:45 p.m. PDT. “The gathering of a white nationalist group today on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc land is abhorrent. Hate and discrimination of any kind are unwelcome in British Columbia and on behalf of all members of Centre BC, I condemn this behaviour and stand in solidarity with the Tkʼemlúps First Nation.”
BC Green Party leader Emily Lowan posted at 2:01 p.m. PDT on Bluesky. “I am disgusted by the appearance of white nationalists on the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc reserve. This is happening just days before the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. I stand with Indigenous communities & all marginalized communities in the fight for a future free from racist intimidation.”
BC NDP leader David Eby commented on the incident last. He spoke on the tarmac before a Central Mountain Air flight to Prince Rupert.
CBC's Katie DeRosa posted the clip at 3:02 p.m. PDT.
He called the actions of the group at the Kamloops Indian Reserve “disgusting and disgraceful.”
Update — 11:19 a.m. PDT
No new taxes
Doerkson’s first official campaign announcement is a tax freeze, issued from Surrey.
The party emailed the release Sunday during Doerkson's press conference in British Columbia's second largest city.
"Under my government, there will be no new taxes," Doerkson said in the release, adding that the pledge covers the entirety of his administration.
While the announcement promises no new levies, it does not outline cuts to existing taxes currently on the books.
The party's release points to several recent fiscal pressures, including Budget 2026 raising the lowest personal tax rate from 5.06% to 5.6% on the first $50,363 of taxable income, alongside frozen bracket indexations for 2027 through 2030.
It also highlights the 7% PST expansion onto professional services — which David Eby paused on September 18 while leaving the legislative change intact — and the newly proposed unsold condo levy.
"After campaigning on 'taxing the rich,' David Eby and the NDP raised the lowest income tax rate," the party stated. "British Columbians have never paid more in tax, but nine years of the NDP spending more and getting less means our province has never been further behind."
Update — 10:15 a.m. PDT
Poilievre asked if the East won
The Western Standard’s Walid Tamtam put Findlay’s resignation to Pierre Poilievre on Sunday.
He used Poilievre’s own Stampede language to do it. “Have the so-called ‘consultants of the East’ won their battle?” Tamtam asked at a fuel-price stop presser Sunday afternoon.
The phrase Tamtam threw back at him is two months old. On July 4 at the Conservative Stampede barbecue in Calgary’s Heritage Park, Poilievre introduced Findlay as “the future premier of British Columbia.” Then: “Way to go. Fresh off a big win against Liberal lobbyists from out east.”
Poilievre responded indirectly by saying he hopes British Columbians vote for a government that will "save them money," noting the initialism 'BC' is sometimes referred to as standing for "Bring Cash" due to the escalating cost-of-living and housing crises in British Columbia.
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 30. The party named her their candidate 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 MLA in Penticton-Summerland, meanwhile, 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.
