BC NDP trails Conservatives by about six points in Mainstreet poll as leaders ramp up election push

The Story

With Election Day approaching, B.C. party leaders continued a busy round of campaign appearances on Wednesday, including BC NDP leader David Eby, who made six different stops south of the Fraser.

The new polling from Mainstreet Research suggests the BC Conservatives are ahead of Eby’s BC NDP by about six percentage points, a gap that the poll indicates Eby has not been able to close despite the campaign’s home stretch.

Mainstreet senior analyst Robert Martin said the campaign appears to be running out of runway, adding that the Conservatives can effectively let time work in their favour while keeping the focus on Eby. He also said last week’s debate did not appear to have an appreciable impact on the numbers, though he noted the Greens have seen a big boost.

Eby took issue with what he described as an imbalance in public engagement, questioning why Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson would attend private donor events while not attending to answer media questions or participating in debates, and said British Columbians “deserve to know your plan.”

Along with the polling and leader commentary, Wednesday’s platform announcements included BC Greens Leader Emily Lowan pitching a plan to protect people living in leaseholds, noting there are about 2,500 leasehold units in B.C. CentreBC Leader Elenore Sturko also announced a pledge to make energy-efficient upgrades such as heat pumps and insulation more affordable, while the campaign reporting said about 10 per cent of voters remain undecided as the election moves into its final stretch.