B.C. election: Key developments from Day Eight on the campaign trail

VANCOUVER – A look at some key developments from Day Eight of the B.C. election campaign for each of the parties:

LIBERALS:

— Leader Christy Clark visited a concrete company in Fort St. John that is working on construction of the Site C dam and said the project is bringing thousands of stable jobs to northern B.C.

— Clark said the province needs affordable and clean power, and Site C is the only way to achieve that goal.

— Clark said more than 275 businesses from B.C. are involved in the dam’s construction.

—A new report by researchers at the University of British Columbia is calling for work on Site C to be suspended because of its cost compared to other energy sources, but Clark says for the $8.8-billion project to meet the province’s future energy needs construction has to take place now.

___

NDP:

— Leader John Horgan wants the B.C. Utilities Commission to review Site C and decide whether it should proceed, saying a business case needs to be made for the hydroelectric project.

— He also announced a community partnership fund that would upgrade and build community infrastructure projects, with an initial investment of $30 million over three years.

— The NDP is promising to expand apprenticeship and trades training to help fill the 96,000 jobs that would be created through new school, hospital, highway and home construction.

___

GREENS:

— Leader Andrew Weaver released the Greens’ health-care platform, which promotes wellness by emphasizing prevention and primary care.

— The party also wants to create a mental health strategy and develop quality end-of-life care.

— The plan would include $100 million for an integrated primary-care system using teams of health-care professionals, such as nurse practitioners, physiotherapists and midwives to enhance access to family doctors.