Party leaders wrap B.C. election campaigns

SURREY, B.C. British Columbia’s election campaign is in its final days and the party leaders are sticking to their platform points while out on the trail.

B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark toured several suburban ridings across Metro Vancouver on Sunday, starting with a stop at a construction company in Surrey.

“I just want to meet and talk to as many British Columbians as I possibly can,” she said.

The Liberals have campaigned on a platform of job creation and economic growth, and Clark said that promise is of the utmost importance to her team.

“We wake up thinking about how we can protect the jobs in British Columbia and how we can create even more,” she said.

New tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canadian softwood lumber have become a key issue in the Liberal campaign, with Clark saying her party is the only one that can protect B.C. jobs in the face of rising protectionism.

“I’m prepared to make sure we fight strong, that we fight thoughtfully,” she said. “We aren't going to be weaklings.”

With just days to go until British Columbians head to the polls, the parties have ramped up their efforts to secure votes.

John Horgan mingled with people at Vancouver’s Granville Island Market on Sunday, where he met with voters concerned about child care, real estate and small business.

The New Democrat leader helped 11-year-old Ryley DyeHogan with her homework in a chance meeting the Grade 5 student said would improve her school project about the provincial election.

But even after chatting with the leader of one of the B.C.’s major political parties, the Carnarvon elementary school student said she is unsure which party she would support if she were old enough to vote.

“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I definitely don’t like the Liberals.”

Others at the Liberal-held Vancouver-False Creek riding appeared taken with Horgan’s message.

Real estate agent Behzad Homaie said he supports Horgan’s efforts to create more housing opportunities for families.

“We are losing our professional middle-class clients because there are no jobs that can pay people enough to afford homes in this city,” he said. “We want a premier who will bring home affordability back.”

Horgan bought fresh doughnuts, carvings and several plants while touring the market, prompting one shopper to say that if the New Democrats are elected he won’t be able to afford to shop at the market because his taxes will increase.

On Saturday, the NDP ran a fullpage ad in a Victoria newspaper that said voting for the third-place Green party is like voting for the Liberals.

Horgan is concerned that votesplitting with the Greens in battleground ridings could hand the Liberals an electoral win, and said the NDP are the only real option for voters who want to oust the governing Liberals after 16 years in power.

Clark rejected Horgan’s argument and encouraged people to vote for the party they believe in.

Both the Greens and the NDP would raise taxes and put B.C. at an economic disadvantage, she said, asking voters to cast their ballot for the Liberals on Tuesday.