Two days from the vote, Eby says his opponent has "gone into hiding" — and advance turnout is down

Speaking in the battleground of Surrey on Wednesday, NDP Leader David Eby accused B.C. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson of avoiding scrutiny in the campaign's final days. "The Conservatives are conducting themselves as if they've won the election, but they do not deserve anybody's vote," Eby said, adding that Doerkson had "gone into hiding," according to a Winnipeg Free Press report of the event.

Doerkson took no questions from reporters on Tuesday and had no media availability scheduled Wednesday. Instead, his agenda carried two fundraising events — after five others in the past week — as the Conservatives push for donations to counter what they call NDP attack ads. The party said Doerkson would return to public campaigning Thursday with an announcement and media availability in Metro Vancouver, followed by a rally in Surrey. It also told media that Doerkson would not take questions on election night: "Should the Conservative Party of B.C. be in a position to form government, a media availability with the leader will be arranged for Sunday, Oct. 25," the party said.

Eby, meanwhile, campaigned on the NDP's record in Kelowna on Tuesday, announcing an investment to expand Kelowna General Hospital.

Advance voting is down — and that matters

Advance voting closed at 8 p.m. local time Wednesday. Elections BC said about 711,000 people had voted in the first five days of early polling, down about 9 per cent compared with the first five days of advance voting in 2024.

That figure lands in the middle of the campaign's central polling story. The race is the closest in a generation: a Mainstreet poll released Oct. 21 had the Conservatives at 41.7 per cent to the NDP's 36.0, with the Greens at a surprising 14.6; Innovative Research Group's Oct. 15–19 poll had the Conservatives at 43 to the NDP's 38. Seat models still lean Conservative on vote efficiency: The Writ's projection has the party ahead in 50 seats to the NDP's 42, with the Conservatives winning most seats in 73 per cent of simulations, and the vote-scope forecast gives the Conservatives a 97 per cent chance of a majority.

A recurring theme has been the turnout certainty gap — an Angus Reid poll found 73 per cent of Conservative voters "very certain" to vote, versus 54 per cent of NDP voters — which makes any softness in advance voting one to watch. Surrey, with its 10 seats, will likely prove crucial to the final count.

British Columbians vote Saturday, Oct. 24, with polls closing at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET). Preliminary results arrive Saturday night, but mail-in and absentee ballots are not counted until the final count on Nov. 6–10 — which is why a tight result may not produce a declared winner for days.