Earlier this summer, we asked out members what their priorities are for this upcoming election. Using that feedback, we drafted the following questions that we sent to each of the major political parties, and encouraged our supporters to send them to their local candidates:
- Climate change: Do you accept the scientific consensus that human actions contribute to climate change? What actions will you take to ensure that we reduce our emissions by 100% by 2040?
- Independent school funding: Will you support ending all public subsidies to faith-based private schools?
- Faith-based care denial: Will you support ending funding for faith-based healthcare institutions that refuse to provide legal medical services, including medical assistance in dying and abortion?
- Property taxes: Will you end the automatic property tax exemption for places of worship? Doing so would permit municipalities to decide whether, and under what circumstances, to grant such exemptions.
- Humanist marriage: Will you support amendments to the Marriage Act to permit Humanists and representatives of other non-religious belief systems to solemnize marriages in BC?
- Secularism in services: Will you ensure that public funds only support secular and inclusive services, including addiction treatment, childcare and housing?
- Prayer in the Legislature: Each day’s sitting of the BC Legislature opens with ‘prayers and reflections’ delivered by a different MLA. Would you support ending this practice? Until then, if elected would you deliver a humanist reflection?
We only received a response from the BCNDP. We’ll provide those below, along with details pulled from each party's platform or policy announcements and public statements. Note, we haven't included the minor parties (that are generally only running a small number of candidates) or independents.
You can find each party's full platforms here:
Individual candidate responses (shared with us by supporters):
- Bryan Breguet, Conservative in Vancouver-Langara
- Kevin Kraft, Independent in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream
We will try to keep this page updated if more information comes out before the final voting day.
Climate Change
Do you accept the scientific consensus that human actions contribute to climate change? What actions will you take to ensure that we reduce our emissions by 100% by 2040?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“British Columbians are seeing the threat of climate change. The BC NDP will address the climate crisis by meeting our GHG reduction targets, capping emissions from the biggest polluters and working with local governments to build strong, prepared communities. John Rustad calls climate science “a lie” and he’s promising to rip up the climate plan we developed with the Green Party. It’s hard to have a serious discussion about climate change with someone who refuses to admit that it is human caused.That’s too big of a risk for BC, we can’t let him threaten our communities.”
Additionally, their platform promises:
- If Ottawa removes its national requirement for a consumer carbon tax, we will remove BC’s carbon tax on people while making sure that big polluters pay their fair share.
- Develop a Clean Energy Plan to make BC’s vision of a clean-energy future a reality
- Doubling electricity generation by 2050
- Leveraging our commitment and action on clean energy to attract new investment and opportunity
- Creating a Clean Economy Transition fund to fuel investment, innovation and good-paying jobs
- BC Hydro rebates on solar panels and home solar batteries.
- Getting better deals for your home and office energy retrofits
- Encouraging the move to more electric vehicles in BC by making charging stations more available and reliable.
- Moving BC’s school bus fleet to electric.
- A cap on harmful emissions from the oil & gas sector. A 75% reduction by the industry by 2030.
- Expand the Youth Climate Corps
Finally, as the current government, you can also judge the BCNDP’s actions through the government’s CleanBC plan.
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions.
While the Conservatives do not have a specific policy on climate change and reducing emissions, they have announced:
- Scrap the Carbon Tax and all hidden carbon taxes that kill jobs and add costs to every part of our economy.
- Reverse plans to ban natural gas heating and non-electric vehicles.
- Accelerate BC Hydro’s 10-year transmission and distribution capital plan.
- Consider all power sources that could keep BC’s energy mix independent, low cost, and green.
- Amend the Clean Energy Act to allow for nuclear power
- Conducting a comprehensive review of small modular reactor (SMR) seismic hazard resilience
- Commit to having a small modular reactor operating by 2035
- Get the most out of our hydroelectric dams by supporting BC Hydro in capital upgrades
- Analyze the business case for geothermal power generation
- Support the development of alternative renewable energy where and when the economics make sense for BC
- Support the expansion of hydrogen production and refueling
While the Conservatives are a relatively new party, their leader, John Rustad, was previously a member of the BC Liberal Party and served in cabinet from 2013-2017. He has also been criticized for past comments questioning the role of carbon emissions in driving climate change.
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions.
The Greens have many detailed platform proposes relating to climate change, so we'll simply summarize the major headings here. See their platform for details:
- Commit to a fossil-free future
- Set ambitious climate pollution targets
- Make polluters pay
- End fossil fuel subsidies
- Reduce methane emissions
- Prohibit fossil fuel advertising
- Ban gas in new buildings
- Carbon offsets
- Establish long-term procurement targets
- Invest in community-scale renewable projects
- Ensure First Nations equity ownership and streamline regulatory processes
- Prioritize power for British Columbia, not LNG
- Accelerate energy efficiency and renewable technologies
- Increase transparency at BC Hydro
- Electrify transportation
The Greens had a supply-and-confidence agreement with the BCNDP from 2017-2020, a major component of which was the drafting of the CleanBC plan.
Independent School Funding
Will you support ending all public subsidies to faith-based private schools?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“David Eby and the BC NDP are focused on taking action to strengthen our public school system to give our kids the quality education they deserve — building new and expanded public schools and investing in our children and youth. We have increased operating funding to public post-secondary schools by 43%. Our focus is on ensuring that all kids in BC have better opportunities than we did. We are expanding and seismically upgrading public schools for more than 70,000 students, with more on the way.”
There is nothing in the BCNDP platform about independent schools. Since forming government in 2017, there has only been one minor change to independent school funding: In May 2020, the Ministry of Education reduced the per-student subsidy for online distributed learning (DL) programs run by group 1 independent schools from 63% to 50% and 44.1% to 35% for group 2 schools. (Group 1 schools run at or below the cost of a neighbouring public school, while group 2 schools are generally ‘elite’ private schools.) This change brought the public funding of the private DL schools in line with bricks-and-mortar private schools.
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions.
Their platform promises to:
- Reverse the NDP's cuts to independent distributed learning schools and establish a pathway to funding parity with government-run distributed learning.
- Encourage educational innovation by allowing independent schools to have flexibility in non-core curriculum areas while still maintaining consistent standards.
A previous platform page on education included:
“Support Parents’ Choices: Parents must have the right to determine how and where their children will be educated. Government must provide fair and reasonable funding to families for the type of education they choose for their children. This includes public, private or homeschooling.”
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions nor does their platform address private school funding in BC. We are also not aware of any public statements by the Greens on independent schools.
Faith-based Care Denial
Will you support ending funding for faith-based healthcare institutions that refuse to provide legal medical services, including medical assistance in dying (MAID) and abortion?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“The BC NDP is committed to ensuring that our healthcare institutions provide patient-centered care. We are ensuring that medical assistance in dying and abortion are accessible to patients and health care providers, when a patient chooses either of these treatments. While faith-based organizations may opt not to offer these services at their facilities, they are expected to work with regional health authorities to ensure the option is available to patients who choose it.”
The BCNDP platform does not directly address issues with access to MAID and abortion in faith-based healthcare facilities. The platform includes:
- Defending and expanding access to reproductive health services
- Expanding midwives scope of practice to include more services, like IUD insertion and prescribing Mifegymiso
While in government, Minister of Health Adrian Dix moved to have Fraser Health take over the Irene Thomas Hospice after the Delta Hospice Society’s board moved to restrict access to MAID. However, he wrote at the time:
“Existing faith-based health facilities, such as hospitals, long-term care homes, and hospices were allowed to opt out of the provision of MAiD, but all are required to safely transfer care of any patient requesting MAiD to a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, or medical facility that does provide the service. Patients have a medical assistance in dying choice, enshrined in law, and our medical system must provide patients with access to that choice.”
And further:
“If a hospice or care facility’s beds are more than 50 per cent publicly funded, they must allow access to MAiD in their facility. If a hospice or healthcare facility has fewer than 50 per cent of their beds funded by a health authority, they do not have to provide access to the service on site, but must inform patients about MAiD and the role of health authorities in care coordination to assist the requesting patient with access to MAiD.”
Later, when St Paul’s Hospital was under fire after a patient died during a transfer to a facility that would permit MAID, Minister Dix announced:
“I have directed VCH to take space next to the hospital and establish a clinical space and care setting for VCH use. This new dedicated clinical space will be established for patients at St. Paul’s Hospital to access compassionate and dignified MAiD services.”
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions. Publicly, Conservative leader John Rustad has promised “there will be no changes” regarding access to abortion and contraception in the province and neither is mentioned in their platform.
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies about faith-based care denial. We are also not aware of any public statements by the Greens on MAID.
The BC Green platform includes:
- We commit to ensuring that all people can access reproductive health services, at a time and a place that meets their needs.
Religious Property Tax Exemptions
Will you end the automatic property tax exemption for places of worship? Doing so would permit municipalities to decide whether, and under what circumstances, to grant such exemptions.
BCNDP
The party answered:
“At this point in time we are not considering a change to the laws exempting property tax on places of worship. The BC NDP is committed to making the wealthiest people contribute their fair share in taxes and lowering costs for everyone else. In contrast, when he was in government John Rustad gave a big tax break to the top 2% tax bracket — and he would do it again.”
There is nothing in the BCNDP’s platform, public statements or actions in government related to ending automatic tax exemptions for places of worship.
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions.
Their platform promises to:
- Protect the non-taxable status of churches, synagogues, gurdwaras, mosques and other religious places of worship to safeguard religious freedoms and protect B.C.’s faith communities, while removing non-taxable status in cases that incite violence or violate existing hate speech laws.
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies or made any public statements about property tax exemptions
Humanist Marriage
Will you support amendments to the Marriage Act to permit Humanists and representatives of other non-religious belief systems to solemnize marriages in BC?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“Currently the Marriage Act provides for Humanists and representatives of other non-religious belief systems to solemnize marriages in BC. This includes marriages performed by a government-appointed marriage commissioner or in a ceremony performed in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of a treaty First Nation or Doukhobor community, provided either of the couple being wed belong to one of those communities.”
We wrote back:
"I do want to clarify one possible misunderstanding. When we asked about permitting Humanists to solemnize marriages, we meant on equal footing with "religious representatives" who can be registered under section 2 of the Marriage Act. Specifically, there is no way for our organization (or a member of our organization) to perform a marriage. For many Humanists, as with many (theistic) religious individuals, having someone who reflects their worldview and values provide the ceremony (rather than effectively a stranger appointed by the government). Countries like Scotland, Norway, Ireland and many US states permit Humanist and non-religious organizations to appoint such representatives, as does the province of Ontario. We've written more about this here."
The BCNDP platform does not include any commitments around Humanist marriages. We have written to the Government repeatedly about this issue. Health Minister Adrian Dix directed our most recent letter in 2022 to then-Registrar General Jack Shewchuk for a response. He stated that, “The issue you brought forward will be raised the next time the Marriage Act is being reviewed.” In a follow-up email, he wrote, “A review of the Marriage Act is not planned at this time.”
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies or made any public statements about Humanist Marriage.
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies or made any public statements about Humanist Marriage.
Secularism in Services
Will you ensure that public funds only support secular and inclusive services, including addiction treatment, childcare and housing?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“David Eby and the BC NDP are taking action to deliver inclusive, public support and services that benefit people like mental health services, childcare and housing. We believe that all people deserve to access high-quality services, afford a home and build a good life in BC. John Rustad is planning deep cuts that would mean canceling the public services that people depend on — and that’s too big of a risk.”
The BCNDP platform does not include any specific commitments.
In government, the BCNDP has partnered with faith-based organizations to provide housing and childcare and has funded 12-step based addiction treatment facilities. Note that 12-step programs are abstinence-based religious programs that rely on a belief in "a higher power."
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions.
Their policies include:
- Fund abstinence-based treatment and recovery
- Expand $10 a day childcare availability by ending the NDP's funding bias against independent childcare providers
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions nor have they made any public statements about secular services.
Regarding addiction treatment facilities, the BC Greens platform promises to:
- Collaborate with experts, including physicians, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists, as well as individuals with lived experiences, to develop evidence-based standards of care for all mental health and substance use treatment services in BC.
- Regulate substance use treatment in BC, and ensure that any public funding for treatment comes with a requirement that the service provider gives comprehensive data and robust reporting on outcomes.
Legislative Prayer
Each day’s sitting of the BC Legislature opens with ‘prayers and reflections’ delivered by a different MLA. Would you support ending this practice? Until then, if elected would you deliver a humanist reflection?
BCNDP
The party answered:
“The BC NDP is committed to building an inclusive province, where everyone sees themselves reflected in our institutions. Prayers and Reflections in the BC Legislature include prayers of various faiths and non-religious reflections, and can be delivered by a variety of people including MLAs, the Speaker, Indigenous elders, as well as religious figures. These reflections or prayers are meant to start each sitting with an opportunity for MLAs to reflect upon the work they are about to undertake on behalf of their constituents.”
The BCNDP platform does not address prayer in the legislature.
In government, BCNDP House Leader Mike Farnworth moved a motion to replace daily “prayers” with “prayers and reflections” in November 2019. The motion was adopted unanimously.
Conservative Party of BC
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies about legislative prayers.
In our 2019 report, House of Prayers, we emailed every MLA about their thoughts on the practice. Then BC Liberal MLA John Rustad replied:
I don’t normally respond to this type of request but I do have some thoughts that I will share.
The BC Legislature is full of traditions that have been in place for more than 100 years and are based on traditions that have been in place for hundreds of years. For example, as a male you must wear a tie.
Regarding the morning prayer, I fully support this practice. There are some days when the prayer is used by some MLAs for political purposes but even with that I believe the tradition is important.
I have participated in providing a morning prayer on several occasions. Each time I used one of the standard prayers provided by the legislature.
Society has changed dramatically over the decades and centuries. Because of diversity of religion and culture some are uncomfortable with the concept of a morning prayer. But as you research the prayer in the legislature you will notice that this prayer is not just Christian but has expressed different religious values from time to time.
The legislature building itself has many other religious features. For example, there is a wave pattern in the stained glass windows as you enter into the chamber. This symbolizes the washing or cleansing of MLAs as they enter the chamber.
Our society will continue to change and evolve. Some traditions should probably also change but I believe the legislature should be a reflection of our roots as well as our future and therefore I continue to support the concept of a morning prayer.
BC Greens
At the time of writing, the BC Greens have not answered our questions, nor have they announced any policies about providing legislative prayers.
In 2019, Sonia Furstenau replied to our questions:
What is your view of the practice of opening morning sessions of the BC Legislature with a prayer? Is this a practice you support, oppose, or are ambivalent towards? Why?
I am somewhat ambivalent. I do see the value of tradition in our Legislature, but I wonder at the practice of a religious ceremony in what is meant to be a secular institution. I appreciate that there are many different customs represented by the prayers – religious and non-religious – but there can be for some a feeling of alienation that comes from the practice.
Have you had the opportunity to deliver one or more prayers in the legislature? And if so, how do you select the content of the prayer you deliver?
I have not delivered a prayer, and I am not inclined to request this.
Do you have any other thoughts or anecdotes regarding prayer in the legislature that you would like to share?
I would like to see us instead to a recognition of the First Nations’ Territory each morning, and perhaps a short reflection from the Member doing the recognition, rather than a prayer. This would require a change to the Standing Orders.