Overview
- Eby referenced the deadly CFB Wainwright fire while warning against separatist sentiment in the B.C. campaign and invoked the four soldiers killed in the blaze during remarks on Monday.
- B.C. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson publicly condemned Eby’s comments as inappropriate and called them “absolutely disgusting,” saying the party is unequivocally for a united Canada.
- Hours after Doerkson’s rebuke, Eby clarified at a campaign stop that he would not use the tragedy for political advantage and vowed to steer clear of the subject through voting day.
- The NDP named three BC Conservative candidates — Bryan Tepper, Heather Maahs and David Williams — as present in separatist Facebook groups, but the BC Conservatives and the three candidates did not respond to requests for comment.
- Parliament and the prime minister formally honoured the Wainwright victims and the episode has heightened tensions in the closing days of the provincial campaign as attention on western separatist groups grows.