Catch all the provincial election results, including up-to-the-minute Vancouver Island updates live on CFAX 1070 on Saturday night.
CFAX will be providing live coverage and analysis beginning at 7:00PM on October 19.
Polls around the province are slated to close at 8:00 PM for the 2024 B.C. Provincial Election.
CFAX Morning Show host Al Ferraby will host the program and CFAX personality Adam Stirling and David Black from Royal Roads University will be providing commentary and analysis.
The election is shaping up to be a close race between incumbent B.C. Premier and BC NDP leader David Eby and the leader of the upstart BC Conservative Party John Rustad. BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau will be on the ballot in the historically strong-NDP riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill after her decision to not run in the Cowichan Valley this time.
CFAX will bring you live interviews and speeches from local candidates and party leaders as the results begin to come in.
All three party leaders joined CFAX in the the final days of the election campaign.
BC NDP leader David Eby spoke with Al Ferraby on Thursday morning.
BC Green Party leader Sonia Fursteanu spoke with Ryan Price on Thursday afternoon.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad spoke with Al Ferraby on Friday morning.
Eby comments on a key local riding and his party's approach to some cases of street entrenched people on CFAX 1070
Premier David Eby was asked for comment on the local race to represent Victoria-Beacon Hill - the riding BC Green leader Sonia Furstenau is running in-during his final appearance on CFAX 1070 before election day.
He suggested the BC Greens have a lot of shared values with his party, citing similarities in approaches to housing and healthcare. He said his main competition is Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad, asking voters who previously voted for the BC Greens or BC United party to think carefully about casting their ballot.
Al Ferraby asked Eby about the province's role in solutions to unhoused encampments. Eby described social programs aiming to prevent youth from getting caught up in what he called a "terrible downward spiral." Ebyalso addressed his party's approach to some cases of street entrenchment.
"This is a differentiation with the Greens," he said. "There is a group of people in the community who need intensive residential, secure support. They have brain injuries. They are mentally ill, and they are addicted to some of the most addictive drugs we've ever seen. With that combination of factors, their behaviour in communities is erratic, they are not safe themselves and they are making other people feel very unsafe."
He said involuntary care needs to be sustained until people fitting that criteria are stabilized, also suggesting some people may need to be institutionalized in secure care for the rest of their lives.
Climate change is real:" Rustad comments on top Victoria issues on CFAX 1070
BC Conservative leader John Rustad addressed several local issues today during his appearance on CFAX 1070's morning show, including how he would approach the social problems on the 900-block of Pandora Avenue.
"In short we need to bring an end to these tent cities, and end to decriminalization and safe supply," he said. "Where we put in housing for people they need to be dry. There cannot be drug use or crime in any of these sorts of facilities. They need to be able to be part of the recovery model that's needed in B.C. So it's a significant shift."
When Al Ferraby asked about the Dowler Place homeless hub site operated by SOLID Outreach, Rustad suggested that housing support for hard-to-house people needs to come with treatment.
"We can't be having special rooms to smoke crack, and special rooms to smoke fentanyl and these types of things," he said. "We need to actually get people in housing, but get people into detox and recovery. Get them on a path that is going to lead to them to move beyond the drug culture in British Columbia."
Rustad spoke about another important issue for many Victoria locals: environmental policy. He claimed BC NDP messaging that he is a climate denier is a lie, suggesting his understanding aligns with the science.
"Climate change is real, there is no question it is, [and] there is no question that man is contributing to our changing climate. The question is whether or not taxing people into poverty can change the weather. And I don't believe that's the case, which is why we're going to get rid of the carbon tax and put $1,200 back into the pockets of families on an annual basis."
"We can make history:" Sonia Furstenau comments on Victoria-Beacon Hill campaign on CFAX 1070
BC Green party leader Sonia Furstenau said she's proud of what her small but mighty team has accomplished as she pitched her work ethic as an MLA to CFAX 1070 listeners.
Afternoon show Ryan Price asked for her reaction react to a Mainstreet Research poll released last Friday suggesting Furstenau could be in the lead in Victoria-Beacon Hill.
The poll found 36 per cent of people planned to vote Green in the long time BC NDP stronghold, with support for BC NDP candidate Grace Lore at 28 per cent. The poll also tracked 19 per cent of voters in the riding supporting BC Conservative Tim Thielmann and 17 per cent undecided.
"It definitely lines up with what we're feeling and seeing on the ground," she said. "We have dozens and dozens and dozens of volunteers going out every single day, canvasing, phone-calling, sign-waving. And a real excitement. It reminds me of 2017 in Cowichan when we turned that corner and it became really clear we were in a winning position. What I say to the people of Victoria-Beacon Hill: we can make history. We can elect Victoria-Beacon Hill's first Green MLA."
She suggested BC Green candidates are in winning positions in a few ridings across Vancouver Island, encouraging voters to consider the role her party would have in pulling a BC NDP government back to progressive values. She cited examples of ways the BC NDP policy platform has changed, including promising to roll back the carbon tax.