BC leaders debate: Eby, Rustad and Furstenau trade barbs

Leaders of British Columbia’s main political parties debated health care, housing and affordability on Tuesday, presenting competing visions of how to address the province’s most pressing problems in a debate punctuated by some spirited exchanges.

The only televised, cross-platform debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election comes as polls show the race between the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives remains close.

David Eby and John Rustad aimed most of their barbs at each other, while BC Greens leader Sonia Furstenau said neither their opponents nor their parties had a plan to move the province forward or address the issues facing British Columbians. to be addressed sensibly.

In addition to defending his party’s record on key issues over the last seven years, Eby sought to draw attention to Rustad’s record during his years in government as a BC Liberal. He also took aim at the Conservative leader’s controversial comments on issues such as climate change and vaccines.

“What you hear from John Rustad – conspiracy theories, division, cuts – will not solve the problems we face,” Eby said.

Rustad, for his part, argued that the NDP’s policies have made the province less safe and less affordable, saying that young people are considering leaving B.C. in droves and that people routinely die on the streets from both crime and drugs – and said he saw someone die of an overdose on the way to the debate in downtown Vancouver.

“This is the British Columbia that David Eby created. Tent cities are growing everywhere. We have a healthcare crisis. We have an affordability crisis. We have a housing crisis,” Rustad said.

Furstenau described her two opponents as politicians who had the opportunity to make change but couldn’t make it happen – and said her party was the only one focused on the future and the only one offering innovative solutions.

“What these two offer is either more of the same or goes back in time,” she said.

“We are now 23 years behind a Liberal government in British Columbia and seven years behind an NDP government that was unwilling to do enough to change things.”

This is a developing story. More will follow.