B.C. party leaders start debate on the defensive in close election campaign

VANCOUVER – The leaders of British Columbia’s three major political parties have started the only televised debate of the provincial election campaign on the defensive — not against each other but the moderator.

The 90-minute debate featured no opening statements, instead beginning with questions for NDP Leader David Eby, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad and Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.

Moderator and Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl pointed to the province’s shift from surplus to deficit under the government of NDP Leader David Eby, asking him when things would improve.

Eby has responded by saying families are under pressure and “people need support now.”

Asked how he can convince people he isn’t “too extreme,” Rustad says a “lot of things” have been said about him but he’s “laser focused” on the needs of people in the province.

Furstenau has responded to a question about why people would vote for a party with only two people in the legislature by saying the choice presented by the other leaders is “more of the same or back to the past.”

The 90-minute debate at CBC’s Vancouver studio is being broadcast on all major TV networks with less than two weeks to go before election day on Oct. 19.

All three leaders spent the day preparing for what could be a pivotal moment for the campaign, with the B.C. Conservatives and the NDP locked in what polls suggest will be a close race.

Supporters outside the studio cheered on the leaders as they made their way inside.

Eby arrived on the party’s election bus with wife Cailey Lynch and about two dozen supporters, Rustad was greeted by a largely youthful crowd waving blue party placards and Furstenau arrived with a handful of supporters.

At times, the NDP and B.C. Conservative supporters appeared to be in a friendly contest to out-cheer each other.

Rustad earlier today released his party’s proposals for dealing with the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment and creating a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists.

He also says his party wants to redevelop and repurpose the Riverview Hospital in the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, a provincially-owned psychiatric institution that closed in 2012.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024

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MONTREAL – A 15-year-old boy has been charged for allegedly setting fire to a restaurant in the city’s east end last weekend, Montreal police said Tuesday.

The suspect was arrested in Montreal on Sunday and appeared in Quebec youth court the next day on charges of arson, possession of incendiary materials, break and enter with intent, and possession and use of explosives.

Police said that around 3:35 a.m. on Sunday, they received a report about a fire, and discovered that a window of the restaurant had been smashed and an incendiary object was thrown inside, causing minimal damage.

That business, located in the St-Léonard borough, had been hit by arson early on Sept. 20, but police have not released a potential motive for the attack.

However, Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher said in a number of media interviews on Monday that a spate of recent firebombings and arsons in the city are tied to extortion attempts by street gangs trying to wrest control of the protection racket from traditional organized crime.

In March 2023, three police services launched a co-ordinated investigation targeting extortion, threats and arson against merchants in Montreal, its northern suburb Laval and the North Shore.

Numerous arrests were made after several merchants reported being victims of threats, armed attacks, arson, extortion or gunfire.

On Monday, Dagher encouraged businesses, bars and restaurants targeted with extortion to come forward and file complaints.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

REGINA – Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck has promised to invest more than $1 billion into health care to help a system struggling with staffing shortages, while Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party has proposed help for those with disabilities.

Beck made the pledge Tuesday in Regina as her party campaigns to win government in the Oct. 28 election.

Beck said her plan would aim to reduce wait times for treatment by focusing on hiring, training, recruiting and retaining front-line health workers.

“Our health-care system needs change,” she said.

“We know that when you staff up, you take the pressure off the system. This is how we’re going to cut wait times. This is how we are going to save lives.”

Beck pointed to a briefing note last month to the government from the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union.

The note highlights concerns that staffing shortages in cancer care are creating dangerous domino effects of staff burnout along with delayed and cancelled tests, putting patients at risk.

The note contains comments from unnamed front-line health workers.

“Patients have died waiting for treatment due to overwhelming demand and lack of available staff. Treatment delays and errors are common due to the high workload,” one nurse said.

Another said, “Due to staffing shortages, chemotherapy treatments have been delayed or cancelled and errors have occurred, raising ethical and moral concerns about patient outcomes.”

Beck echoed those concerns.

“Clearly, this is absolutely unacceptable,” she said.

Beck said she would first work to retain the province’s current health-care workers, followed by determining which areas need the most help.

“We’ve got concerns in diagnostics, we’ve got concerns in pathology, we’ve got concerns with family doctors,” she said.

“There are a lot of fronts that this has to be fought on, and the scope of these changes aren’t going to be made in small rooms in the legislature. These are going to be built with those on the front lines.”

Moe has said his government’s health-care plan, announced two years ago, is working.

He has said the province has hired more than 1,300 recent nursing graduates, but added more work is needed.

Earlier Tuesday, Moe announced in North Battleford a re-elected Saskatchewan Party government would increase a set of tax credits for persons with disabilities.

The plan would see a 25 per cent increase in the Disability Tax Credit for adults, the Disability Tax Credit Supplement for children and the Caregiver Tax Credit.

Moe said it means $286 more for each credit per year, on top of other tax reductions announced last week by the Saskatchewan Party.

Also Tuesday, Beck received an endorsement from a former opponent.

Former Saskatchewan Party member Randy Weekes, who was Speaker during the last legislative session, said in an interview he’s voting for Beck’s NDP.

Weekes had cut up his Saskatchewan Party membership card earlier this year, accusing those in the government caucus of bullying him.

He also said Jeremy Harrison, the trade and export development minister, had taken a gun into the legislature nearly a decade ago.

Moe backed Harrison, who denied the gun incident but later said he remembered it had happened. Harrison was removed as government house leader but kept his cabinet position.

“It’s time for change,” Weekes said in an interview.

“I think there’s a serious problem with the leadership of Premier Scott Moe. If he did not know about these issues that I brought up, he should have, and he has never dealt with these individuals, starting with Jeremy Harrison.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.