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B.C. election campaign starts Saturday; but Eby takes bus on test run, Rustad at UBCM

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Sep, 2024 09:53 AM

A day before the official start, British Columbia's election campaign sees B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad and Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau speaking to municipal leaders, while NDP Leader David Eby is gearing up to get his campaign bus rolling.

Eby spoke to local politicians yesterday at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, as they presented a laundry list of concerns for the provincial government at the meeting, from homelessness to the overdose crisis and more support funding.

Eby's speech to the municipal leaders focused on his recent announcement to implement plans to introduce involuntary care of people struggling with mental health and addiction issues.

He says several city governments have already indicated they are on board with having a "secure site" to house and treat severely mentally ill and drug addicted people.

Instead of cutting, we're building.
Instead of firing, we're hiring.
Instead of turning away, we're listening.
That's our commitment to communities because working together is how we get the job done. pic.twitter.com/g1gWphYWDN
— David Eby (@Dave_Eby) September 20, 2024

The decriminalization of possession of small quantities of hard drugs and open drug use in public areas is expected to be a major issue in the Oct. 19 election, which officially starts Saturday.

Rustad, who has been highly critical of safe supply and decriminalization initiatives, says he supports involuntary care, including for children.

Today at UBCM, Eby showed his true colours.

Eby is planning to massively increase the Carbon Tax on “big polluters”.

That means potentially killing LNG Canada, mining, forestry, farming, trucking — industries that pay for BC’s core services.

Eby’s NDP will bankrupt BC. #bcpoli
— John Rustad (@JohnRustad4BC) September 19, 2024

Of the three party leaders, only Furstenau has run in a provincial election for the premier's job.

👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/ma8RobUmmL
— Sonia Furstenau (@SoniaFurstenau) September 20, 2024

BC Green leader Sonia Furstenau says she offers something different from Eby and Rustad which is nothing but finger pointing and attacks that don’t solve the real issues facing BCers. “We are going to offer an inspiring vision with actual solutions rooted in evidence..” pic.twitter.com/GEEFrtwuMu
— Katie DeRosa (@katiederosayyj) September 20, 2024

Eby took over the job from former premier John Horgan almost two years ago, while Rustad was acclaimed as the leader of the B.C. Conservatives last year.

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