Doerkson says B.C. Conservative growth projection of 3.2% ‘absolutely doable’

B.C. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson listens to a question during a provincial election campaign announcement at the Waldun Forest Products cedar shake and shingle mill, in Maple Ridge, B.C., on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Voters in British Columbia go to the polls on Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The British Columbia Conservatives’ projection of 3.2 per cent economic growth by 2029 represents about one per cent “more optimism” than previously budgeted for by the New Democrats, interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson said on Monday.

The Conservatives’ figure is more than 50 per cent higher than a 2.1 per cent average growth forecast in the last provincial budget and considerably higher than recent projections by the Bank of Canada and International Monetary Fund at the national level.

The elevated growth forecast underpins some of the Conservatives’ costed platform, which says it will yield $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years.

Ross Hickey, associate professor of economics at the University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus, said the Conservatives’ costed platform was “a little bit thin on the details and a little bit thick in terms of wishful thinking.”

But Doerkson told a campaign stop in Maple Ridge, B.C., in the final days before the Oct. 24 provincial election that 3.2 per cent growth was “absolutely doable.”

“I’ve talked to so many industries that are just waiting for a change in government to invest in this province,” he said.

Doerkson said “fear” under the previous NDP regime had deterred investment across industries including natural gas, forestry, mining and agriculture.

The Conservative platform unveiled on Sunday promises to shrink the $14 billion forecast deficit to $10.8 billion, based on gross domestic product growing by 2.5 per cent next year, 2.8 per cent in 2028 and 3.2 per cent in 2029.

NDP Leader David Eby said the Conservatives were “torquing the numbers,” and their platform had “major omissions” in how the party would pay for its plans.

“They failed to cost basic platform commitments like their cut to the (Provincial Sales Tax) on alcohol, which costs almost $300 million,” Eby told a campaign stop in Vancouver on Monday.

“It is all with the aim of minimizing the reality of the cuts they’re going to have to make.”

Hickey said the Conservatives’ calculations assume B.C.’s economy would grow at a certain pace, but the Conservatives’ proposals are untested, and many factors influencing growth are outside the provincial government’s control.

“Ultimately, what will happen with growth … depends more on what’s happening with the global economy than who our premier is,” he said in an interview.

“Just saying ‘we’re pro-growth’ so then we’re going to grow more? (It) doesn’t add up to me.”

Hickey said the NDP probably had projections and ideas that were “equally silly” and likened campaign promises across the political spectrum to works of fiction.

“What’s missing in a lot of these is the plan of how the actions lead to the outcome.”

The NDP’s platform says it expects about $1.8 billion in new revenue by the 2029 fiscal year, thanks to “targeted economic growth” resulting from final investment decisions on major projects, such as the second phase of LNG Canada’s facility in Kitimat.

With files from Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press

This report by Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press, was first published Oct. 19, 2026.