British Columbia’s provincial party leaders are spending their final few hours of campaigning with a focus on some key battlegrounds.
With election day Saturday, Conservative leader John Rustad held a rally at a loud and crowded banquet hall in Surrey on Thursday night.
Rustad hammered hard on previous promises to expand health care in the city — including a new children’s hospital — along with expanding SkyTrain service to Newton, new plans for a bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel, and improving public safety.
Rustad received cheers for saying a Conservative government would eliminate SOGI 123 in B.C. classrooms — resources for teachers meant to create safer and more inclusive schools for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
“We need to make sure our education system is doing the right thing for our students. We have seen a decline in reading and arithmetic marks, we are seeing university professors who say kids are not prepared for the future,” he told the crowd of supporters.
“We need to change this. We need to make sure we get back to having letter grades, we have to make sure our education system teaches kids how to think, not what to think. We’ve got to make sure there’s a focus on building a future for kids and that’s why we need to get things like SOGI out of our schools.”
There were also cheers and applause when Rustad suggested Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry would not be welcome under a Conservative government and neither would vaccine mandates for health care workers.
Rustad will be on the North Shore Friday afternoon, appearing at a campaign office in North Vancouver and then at a meet and greet in West Vancouver.
NDP Leader David Eby will also be in North Vancouver after a morning announcement in Coquitlam.
Eby will then make two campaign stops in Surrey before moving on to Maple Ridge Friday afternoon.
Green Leader Sonia Furstenau is focusing on her home riding Friday, making a morning climate announcement in Victoria, and then canvassing and sign-waving through the afternoon.
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