B.C. NDP fails to field full slate of candidates for snap election
The party has 92 candidates, missing only Peace River North, while the Conservatives have 93.
VANCOUVER — The B.C. NDP has fallen one candidate short of fielding a provincewide slate for the Oct. 24 snap election, leaving the Conservative Party as the only one with a candidate in all 93 ridings.
Elections BC's final list, published Sunday, shows 355 candidates are vying for seats, with 340 representing 10 political parties and 15 running as independents or unaffiliated.
The Conservatives are running 93 candidates, the NDP 92, and the B.C. Green Party 73. CentreBC and OneBC, both formed in 2025, have nominated 35 and 33 candidates, respectively.
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"We certainly would never run people with hateful views, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, MAGA apologists, in order to fill out our slate like the Conservatives are doing," NDP Leader David Eby said at a campaign stop in Comox.
He referenced a candidate whose past comments appeared to conflate homosexuality and pedophilia.
In response, the Conservative Party said it is proud of its 93 candidates and that the party, under interim leader Lorne Doerkson, will treat every British Columbian with respect.
"The NDP called a cynical snap election that only they knew was coming and they still couldn't run a full slate," said Alex Shiff, the party's director of media relations.
B.C. NDP campaign director Cheryl Oates attributed the party's absence from the Peace River North ballot to incomplete paperwork.
Incumbent Jordan Kealy, who was elected as a Conservative in 2024 and quit to sit as an independent last year, will face Conservative Curtis Whitford there.
Kealy, who was charged with sexual assault in June for offences alleged to have occurred in 2024, has maintained his innocence and is awaiting trial by jury.
Hamish Telford, a University of the Fraser Valley political science associate professor, said securing candidates in all 93 ridings is "quite a feat" for the Conservatives considering the turmoil they were in just weeks ago.
Nosy Mag reported in September that B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned amid party turmoil.
"It's going to come down to how the smaller parties do in particular ridings," Telford said.
The final candidate list also reveals some last-minute twists.
Brent Chapman, who quit the Conservative caucus to join OneBC on Sept. 22, is now missing from the list.
OneBC did not directly answer a question about his absence and instead pointed to its strained relationship with the Conservatives.
Also not running is former OneBC legislator Tara Armstrong, who said on social media that she doesn't want to split the anti-NDP vote.
On the campaign trail Sunday, Eby announced a plan to raise income taxes on B.C.'s highest earners to fund health care improvements and measures aimed at lowering costs.
The plan, which would start in the 2027 tax year, would increase rates on the top two tax brackets by 2 percentage points and introduce a new 24.5-per-cent bracket for income of more than $1 million.
Eby said the changes would affect the top 4 per cent of earners in B.C. and apply only to income earned over each tax bracket threshold.
Advance voting will take place from Oct. 16 to Oct. 21.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and CBC News