A series of all candidates meetings kick off tonight on both TV and online to help local voters decide who to cast a ballot for in the upcoming provincial election.
Ahead of the opening of advance polls Thursday, Oct. 15, Tri-City residents will get a chance to see local contenders clash in four all candidates meetings taking place over two nights, beginning tonight at 5 p.m. with the Coquitlam-Maillardville riding.
Political junkies have a long night ahead of them, as Tuesday a debate “double header” will see party leaders clash in a televised debate tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Then at 8 p.m. tonight, Port Moody-Coquitlam candidates will face off against one another during the Facebook Live event.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, debates will be held for each of the Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam-Maillardville ridings. See below for times.
For the leaders debate, Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, NDP Leader John Horgan and Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson will discuss issues in a debate televised by a media consortium that includes CBC, CTV, Global B.C., CityTV, CHEK and CPAC.
It will be moderated by Shachi Kurl, president of the non-profit Angus Reid Institute.
For the local ridings, the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce is holding all candidates debates for all four ridings. They will be streamed via Facebook Live on the chamber’s Facebook page and hosted on the Tri-City News Facebook page. For those who can’t make it, all meetings will be archived on these pages.
“We’ll be asking questions important to business and local voters,” explained Michael Hind, executive director of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce.
Among the key questions will be how parties will be dealing with COVID-19, the economic recovery, ICBC and paying for promises the leaders have made to date.
While the debate will be held face-to-face in a Tri-Cities location, members of the public won’t be allowed to attend. Only candidates with one support person and those involved in running the debates will be allowed in. “We want things to be safe,” said Hind, noting that everyone will be physically distanced and required to wear a mask, except when candidates are debating.
Here is the schedule:
October 13 | 5:00 - 6:15 PM
BC Greens: Nicola Spurling
BC Liberals: Will Davis
BC NDP: Selina Robinson
October 13 | 8:00 - 9:15 PM
BC Conservatives: Brandon Fonsesca
BC Greens: John Latimer
BC NDP: Rick Glumac
BC Liberals: James Robertson
Libertarian: Logan Smith
October 14 | 6:00 - 7:15 PM
BC Greens: Erik Minty
BC NDP: Mike Farnworth
BC Liberals: Mehran Zargham
Libertarian: Lewis Clarke Dahlby
October 14 | 8:00 - 9:15 PM
BC Greens: Adam Bremner-Akins
BC NDP: Fin Donnelly
BC Liberal: Joan Isaacs
