Elections B.C. released its final candidate list for the upcoming provincial election, after the nomination deadline passed on Saturday.
There are 323 candidates running in the upcoming provincial election, across 93 ridings, with voting day set for Oct. 19.
B.C. has seen six new ridings added to its political map, and a rejigging of previous riding boundaries, as the province adjusts its electoral district boundaries in response to population growth.
The B.C. New Democratic Party and the B.C. Conservative Party are each running 93 candidates, with the B.C. Green Party running 69 candidates.
From left: B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad, B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The Official Opposition B.C. United, whose Leader Kevin Falcon last month ended the party’s campaign to avoid vote-splitting with the Conservatives, said it does not plan to run any candidates in the election.
There are 40 independent candidates and 14 unaffiliated candidates running, some of whom are former B.C. United candidates.
The Communist Party of B.C., Christian Heritage Party, and Freedom Party are among other parties who are running candidates in the election.
NDP highlights ‘conspiracies’ by Tories
The B.C. NDP said its leader wrote a letter to the Conservative leader urging him to drop some candidates who had expressed “extreme and dangerous” views on Saturday.
In a statement sent before the candidate nomination deadline passed, NDP Leader David Eby said some Conservative candidates had previously “advanced anti-democratic conspiracy theories,” which claimed the 2020 U.S. election was stolen from former president Donald Trump, and that riots by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, were a hoax.
“The promotion of bigotry, disinformation, and dangerous conspiracy theories is profoundly alarming and has no place in a democratic society — and certainly not from people seeking the trust of voters to form their next government,” Eby is quoted as saying in his letter.
When asked about the comments on Saturday, Conservative Leader John Rustad said he would be happy to match his candidates against the NDP’s slate “any day of the week.”
He did not directly address the NDP’s charges that some candidates had endorsed conspiracy theories.
“We do need fresh people that come in with great ideas, that are passionate, that are willing to stand up and say things and just be themselves,” he said. “We do not need a party, quite frankly, in this province … under David Eby’s weak leadership, that has created all of these sort of problems.”
