The leaders of the three major political parties contesting the 2024 B.C. election are set to face off in a televised debate on Tuesday evening.
B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau and B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad will face questions and debate each other on topics important to British Columbians ahead of the Oct. 19 provincial election.
The debate, which is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT, will be moderated by Shachi Kurl, the president of the Angus Reid Institute.
CBC will carry it live on TV, CBC Radio One, YouTube, TikTok, CBC Gem and CBC News B.C., the 24/7 streaming channel.
Viewers will also be able to get updates at cbc.ca/bc.
The event is being organized by the B.C. Broadcast Consortium, and is the only live debate scheduled to take place before the provincial election.
Kurl told Stephen Quinn, the host of CBC’s The Early Edition, that she will ask challenging questions to each of the three leaders, especially as they are all making their case to be the B.C. premier.
“I’m really thinking about the audience and about the people who are going to be watching and listening,” she said. “That’s not the politicos, and it’s not the political animals or the keyboard warriors on social media.
“It’s actually … folks who maybe up to this point in the campaign have not had the time or simply have not engaged in the campaign in the way that we are day after day.”
While British Columbians are scheduled to head to the polls on Oct. 19, advance voting will also take place Oct. 10-13, 15 and 16.
Anyone who wants to vote on election day can choose the most convenient voting station on this list. Instructions on how to check your voting eligibility can be found here.
Party leaders issue pre-debate shots
This will be Eby and Rustad’s first debate as party leaders, while it’s Furstenau’s second.
Rustad said on Monday that he would focus on the core issues the party has prioritized so far in the campaign.
As the province heads to the polls on Oct. 19, the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party is making his pitch to voters and explaining how he would tackle the biggest issues facing British Columbians.
The Conservative leader said he expects to see “more of the same” from Eby at the debate and charged the NDP leader with weak leadership.
“He can’t defend what he’s doing — all he can do is go after [and] attack us as individuals as opposed to the policies [and] issues,” he said in a news conference focused on public safety.
As the province heads to the polls on Oct. 19, B.C. NDP Leader David Eby is making his pitch to voters and explaining how he would tackle the biggest issues facing British Columbians.
During a campaign announcement in Maple Ridge about school investments, Eby says his debate approach will hinge on a “straightforward message for British Columbians,” touting an NDP platform that features a tax rebate promise and plans to address a health-care worker shortage.
Eby slammed Rustad for advancing “bizarre conspiracy theories, and even worse, making proposals that will make our schools worse for kids, making life harder for parents with higher child-care costs.”
As the province heads to the polls on Oct. 19, B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau is making her pitch to voters and outlining her position on the key issues facing British Columbians.
Furstenau says she plans to focus on the solutions her party will put forward to “ensure that the people of British Columbia have public services that are there when they need them,” including health care, education and transportation.
“We need to have a government that accepts science and evidence, and that works to create solutions for the people of British Columbia,” said Furstenau, speaking during a campaign announcement in Victoria about building modular housing for people without homes.