The B.C. Conservatives released a costed platform saying GDP growth assumptions would generate $2.62 billion in additional revenue and reduce the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030.
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The British Columbia Conservatives released a costed election platform that they say will create $2.62 billion in new revenue over three years and shrink the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030.
The document, released Sunday ahead of the province’s Oct. 24 general vote, says the projections rely on provincial GDP growth of 2.5 per cent in 2027, 2.8 per cent in 2028 and 3.2 per cent in 2029, which Conservatives say would raise additional revenue compared with the NDP’s forecast.
The platform’s assumptions also frame provincial growth as exceeding national growth rates. It cites the Bank of Canada’s July forecast for GDP growth of 1.4 per cent in 2027 and 1.8 per cent in 2028, and an International Monetary Fund report projecting advanced economies grow by 1.9 per cent next year while overall growth rates for 2027 reach three per cent, including economies such as China and India.
Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson did not make himself available after the platform was released on Sunday, but said earlier at an event that he had reviewed the document before it was made public. He said: “I just had a final look at it in the car on the way over here, and it will be open for criticism, I suppose, this afternoon. But it looks really great to me. I’m really excited about the opportunity to certainly attack the deficit and grow the economy in this province.”
The platform argues that traditional industries—mining, energy and agriculture—are fundamental to B.C.’s prosperity, and says Conservatives would quickly restore confidence in those sectors by cutting red tape, speeding up permits for projects and supporting more production and processing in the province.
Conservatives say their plan to “supercharge” the economy would bring in new revenue “without cutting front-line services or raising taxes.” Their document includes a claim that net new “revenue from unleashing growth” includes a 15 per cent increase in gas production over the previous forecasts by 2029-2030.
The Conservatives also outline promised tax cuts announced earlier in the campaign. The platform says they would raise the provincial basic personal exemption amount from $13,126 to $32,000, and impose no provincial sales tax on major projects until they start operating, so taxes arrive with revenue.
According to the platform, starting in 2026 those tax cuts would add up to $11.3 billion by 2030. It also says a Conservative government would fully fund health care, and that its plan would include new operational spending estimated at $1.42 billion per year, with growth revenue exceeding spending every year.
On the spending reductions side, the platform says it would chop spending by freezing outside hiring, cutting consultants and reviewing spending across numerous government ministries. It estimates the core review would trim about $1.8 billion over four years, while a hiring freeze and attrition of staff outside the front lines would save about $2 billion over the same period.
Doerkson previously introduced the platform in a letter, writing that his job would be “about making the lives of B.C. residents easier and better.” He added: “I’ll work to get the economy moving, bring your costs down, and create good jobs. I’ll fully fund and protect our health care, and fix the mess David Eby and the NDP have made so that British Columbians aren’t dying on wait-lists or going to closed ERs when they need help.”
The NDP criticized the platform in a statement released Sunday, calling it “packed full of shell games, wildly unrealistic growth projections, and deep health care cuts hidden in plain sight.” The NDP said Conservatives claim they would save $2 billion a year from cuts to the contingencies envelope, but that those funds are tied to health care caseload pressures and unavoidable expenses such as fighting wildfires, calling it “a backdoor health-care cut.”
The NDP also said in an earlier statement Sunday that Doerkson has a $6 billion budget gap after announcing items including a new women and children’s hospital and changing the Massey tunnel replacement from a tunnel to a bridge. The NDP added that it views the growth claims as unrealistic, saying: “Doerkson seems to plan to pretend he can, quote, ‘flip a switch’ and make billions of dollars appear out of thin air. It doesn’t work like that.”
The platform was released late Sunday afternoon ahead of the Oct. 24 general vote, with advanced voting already underway starting Oct. 16. (The report was first published Oct. 18, 2026.)
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