2026 Provincial Election Environmental Forum – Sunshine Coast Conservation Association

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2026 Provincial Government Election Engagement

On Saturday, October 24, British Columbians elect a new provincial government. Advance voting runs October 16 to 21, and mail-in ballots must reach Elections BC by 8 pm on October 24.

This vote is separate from the October 17 local elections.

The Province decides how our forests are logged, what industry pays for water, which projects get assessed, and whether our rivers get dammed. Your MLA has a say in every one of those decisions.

Candidate Information

Nominations closed on October 3. Three candidates are running in Powell River–Sunshine Coast:

You can find full candidate information on the Elections BC website.

All Candidates Meeting

We are hosting an online environmental all-candidates meeting for the Powell River–Sunshine Coast MLA candidates via Zoom on Tuesday, October 20th, 7–8:30 pm. Hear how each candidate would handle the environmental challenges facing the Sunshine Coast.

Written Q&A

We sent each candidate five questions (below) about provincial decisions affecting conservation on the Sunshine Coast and asked for written answers by October 19. Starting October 20, click a candidate’s name below to read their answers.

In this Section

Make Your Voice Count

Since 2011, the SCCA has hosted candidate forums so Sunshine Coast voters can hear directly where candidates stand on the environmental issues facing our region.

As a registered charity, we are non-partisan and never support or oppose a candidate or party.

Every candidate gets the same questions and an equal chance to answer, and we publish their responses in full. Read their answers, join the forum, and above all, VOTE!

SNAP ELECTION VOTING INFO

Background

Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge human societies have ever faced.

We know the list: drought, fire, severe storms, record heat, famine, warming oceans and rising seas. These impacts are hitting communities around the world harder every year.

BC communities have been devastated by extreme heat, wildfires and floods, which have caused hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage to natural and built infrastructure.

At the same time, the planet is undergoing a silent biodiversity crisis known as the sixth mass extinction. Species are disappearing at an estimated rate 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural rate. Global warming is set to cross 1.5°C within the next few years.

Unlike past extinctions caused by natural events, this one is driven by people. Burning fossil fuels, unsustainable use of land, water and energy, and climate change itself are eroding biodiversity. That leaves ecosystems more vulnerable to disturbance and less able to provide the clean air, water and fertile soil we need to survive.

The Province holds many of the tools to slow climate change and biodiversity loss and to help communities adapt. It sets climate law, manages forests and water, assesses major projects, and decides where dams and LNG plants go. Elected MLAs must lead the way in protecting natural systems and the benefits they provide to our communities and to global health.

Every question we are posing to candidates falls within provincial jurisdiction. For each one, we asked: If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Resources

Limiting Overshoot: Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C (UN Environment Programme, 2026)

Canada’s Changing Climate Report 2026: Headline Statements (Government of Canada)

Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction (Science Advances)

Why BC Needs Watershed Boards (BC Watershed Security Coalition)

Industries Pay Much Less for Water in BC, Report Finds (The Tyee)

A New Future for Old Forests: Old Growth Strategic Review (Province of BC, 2020)

Federal minister reveals ambition to triple Woodfibre LNG capacity (BIV via Castanet)

Climate Change Accountability Act (BC Laws)

LNG Canada flaring exceeds estimated 2024 global record (The Narwhal)

BCTS Sunshine Coast Operating Plan 2026–2030 (Province of BC)

Sunshine Coast Community Forest

Homalco First Nation Puts Out Welcome Mat to Hydroelectric Dams (EnergyNow, June 2026)

Questions for Candidates

Question 1: Watershed Boards

Background

Water is the Sunshine Coast's most pressing environmental issue.

In 2022, drought forced the SCRD, Sechelt and the shíshálh Nation to declare a local state of emergency, and every dry summer since has tested our supply.

What happens upstream dictates what comes out of the tap, yet the local governments responsible for safe drinking water have almost no say over the land it comes from.

Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba all have local watershed boards that bring First Nations, local governments, licensees and residents together to plan for the watersheds they share. BC has none.

In September, local governments across the province passed an SCRD-sponsored UBCM resolution asking the Province to create a framework for watershed boards and fund them.

The money is there. BC charges industry $2.25 per million litres of water, the lowest rate in Canada, while Quebec charges $155. Matching Nova Scotia's rate would raise about $142 million a year, and the last time the Province invested in watersheds, $27 million put more than 700 people to work on over 60 projects.

Question

If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Legislate local watershed boards with long-term provincial funding.
Bring the provincial ministries responsible for water and forests to Sunshine Coast watershed tables.
Raise industrial water rates and dedicate the revenue to watershed security.

Randene Neill, BC NDP (incumbent)

Protection of our watersheds in BC is vital. As climate change, drought, and even politics in other parts of the world may threaten our water, sustainable and secure watersheds need to be prioritized and protected.

In 2023, BC and the First Nations Water Caucus established a $100m Watershed Security Fund. We recently announced an annual investment of $30m more into the fund. That funding will be used to protect our watersheds, and help local communities and First Nations protect their water supply.

We currently have two water sustainability plans in the province, the Cowichan and Nicola Valley, and I am advocating to develop the tools to ensure local communities and First Nations across BC have access to those tools and funding needed to protect watersheds across BC.

Griffin Leonard Lea, BC Green Party

1. As MLA, I will work to establish and fund regional watershed boards with First Nations, local governments and local water users to coordinate watershed planning, monitoring, restoration and proactive drought response, with meaningful authority over decisions affecting the watersheds they steward.

2. I would bring the attention of provincial ministries responsible for water and forests to the Sunshine Coast watershed tables. BC Greens would task these ministries with protecting water resources for the benefit of people not profit, ensuring that drinking water, healthy ecosystems, and food security take priority over water use by AI data centres, industry, and bottled water companies.

3. BC Greens would put the Watershed Security Fund on stable, long-term footing, with $75 million in annual funding supported by modernized industrial water rates. We would bring water rates into line with other Canadian provinces, using Quebec as a minimum benchmark, while protecting household, agricultural and small-business users. We would release and implement BC’s Watershed Security Strategy, developed with First Nations, with clear timelines, responsibilities, funding and annual public reporting on progress.

John Henderson, Conservative Party

Question 2: Old Growth and Biodiversity Law

Background

In 2020, the Province accepted all 14 recommendations of its Old Growth Strategic Review, including a law that would make biodiversity and ecosystem health the overarching priority for every sector.

Six years later, 20% of BC's old growth remains open to logging, and an independent panel found that stands deferred for protection are being planned for harvest or are already cut.

The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework was promised for 2024 and still hasn't been finalized. BC has no law to protect at-risk species or their habitat.

Old forests store carbon, hold water through drought, and shelter species with nowhere else to go; once they are logged, they won't return in our lifetimes. If ever.

Canada has committed $50 million to old-growth protection under the Tripartite Framework Agreement, and BC has agreed to match it. Only protection written into law will last.

Question

If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Table a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Act within two years, co-developed with First Nations.
Turn old-growth deferrals into permanent protection through First Nations-BC land use plans and forest landscape plans.

Randene Neill, BC NDP (incumbent)

We recently announced $50m to protect our most irreplaceable old growth. That will prioritize deferred old growth into permanent protections.

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship is working with Ministry of Forestry to develop a new system that focuses on area-based management of our forests. It includes three zones – a working forest zone, a multiple use zone, and a protected and conserved zone. Working with First Nations, four pilot areas will be identified to see how the system works in practise. The area-based management approach means that we can prioritize biodiversity and ecosystem health throughout the area, understanding there are multiple values to consider.

Legislating a biodiversity and ecosystem health framework was unanimously passed as a resolution at the BC NDP’s most recent convention. Stewarding our forests, and all the biodiversity within them, is essential to maintain a strong healthy ecosystem for the next seven generations and beyond.

Griffin Leonard Lea, BC Green Party

1. BC Greens have been unequivocal that we would fully implement all 14 recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review in partnership with First Nations, including moving past the draft stage to table a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Act within two years. Ecosystem health must be an overarching legal priority across all sectors. We would make every effort to protect a minimum of 30% by 2030 of BC’s lands and waters by working with First Nations and the Federal Government. The BC NDP has committed to this level of protection, but has only reached 4.3% on the Sunshine Coast. Targets are meaningless without real and significant action.

2. I would work to permanently protect big-treed old growth and large second-growth forests from logging and reform forest tenure so that more tenure is held by First Nations, communities and smaller operators rather than concentrated among a small number of large companies. BC Greens would also improve forest transparency and accountability by publishing current maps, harvest data and planning information, and strengthening government monitoring and enforcement of forest-management rules. The public needs to be able to see what actions are being taken, and most importantly, where we are falling behind.

John Henderson, Conservative Party

Question 3: Woodfibre LNG and LNG Emissions

Background

Woodfibre LNG is under construction in Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound. It was certified in 2016 for 2.1 million tonnes a year, and the plant, the FortisBC pipeline, and their permits were each approved separately and never assessed together.

In March 2026, the federal energy minister said Woodfibre has "ambitions to double and triple" its production, which would mean up to 6.3 million tonnes a year, three times what was assessed.

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw has stated it would review any expansion in full. The Province should do no less.

Section 2 of the Climate Change Accountability Act requires BC's emissions to be 40% below 2007 levels by 2030. In 2023, we were only 6% below, with four years left to close the gap.

We have already seen what an LNG plant does once it runs. BC's only operating plant, LNG Canada, burned about 10% of the gas it received in 2025, and some of its flares averaged 45 times their permitted volumes.

Woodfibre calls itself the world's first net-zero LNG export facility, but that claim counts only the plant and leaves out the gas field, the pipeline, the tankers, and the gas burned overseas. Net zero at the fence line is not net zero.

Question

If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Require a full new environmental assessment for any Woodfibre LNG expansion, covering the plant, the pipeline and related permits together, with the free, prior and informed consent of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw.
Amend the Environmental Assessment Act so any project that grows beyond what was assessed triggers a new assessment.
Reject new or expanded LNG projects unless their full life-cycle emissions fit within BC's legislated targets.

Randene Neill, BC NDP (incumbent)

Griffin Leonard Lea, BC Green Party

1. I would go one step further and end all approvals for new fracking expansion, LNG terminals and expansions, and new fossil-fuel pipelines in British Columbia. Additionally, I would work to end provincial subsidies, tax preferences and public financing that encourage the expansion of fossil fuel production. BC Greens would set a plan for the managed decline of existing oil and gas production consistent with BC’s climate targets and planned with affected First Nations, workers and communities.

2. We need to require major policies, infrastructure investments and industrial decisions to be assessed against BC’s climate targets and climate risks. BC Greens would maintain BC’s legislated long-term climate targets and establish interim targets and accountability measures that reflect where emissions are today and keep the province on track for 2040 and 2050.

3. As MLA, I would treat the climate crisis like the emergency it is. We’ll bring in a new provincial climate action plan that meets the targets demanded by the climate emergency, with clear sector-by-sector milestones, annual public reporting, and real consequences when the government falls behind. Eby’s BC NDP have been successfully lobbied by big oil to double our LNG export capacity with zero explanation of how this will impact our legislated emission targets. As clearly laid out in the background provided by SCCA, we’ve already seen what one LNG plant does once it runs, and the BC NDP have approved a further five. BC Greens have also called for a ban on fossil fuel advertising and greenwashing, comparing the promotion of oil and gas to historical tobacco advertising.

John Henderson, Conservative Party

Question 4: BCTS Tenure for Community Forest

Background

BC Timber Sales, the Province’s logging agency, plans to log from 2026 to 2030 in old-growth management and deferral areas, three Community Watersheds, and two municipal aquifer recharge zones, including Mount Elphinstone, which provides drinking water for 16,000 people.

The Forest Landscape Plan, promised for spring 2024, has not been released. Instead, the Province has proposed a Working Forest Landscape Model to zone productive forests for logging, eliminate block-by-block reviews, and support a 50% increase in BC's annual cut. Under the "no net loss" rule, every hectare taken out of the working forest must be replaced elsewhere. But the Province has not said where.

The Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF), owned by the District of Sechelt, manages about 10,800 hectares of public forest in shíshálh swiya. The SCCA initially opposed SCCF in 2006, but its stance has changed. SCCF has since shifted to ecosystem-based management, avoiding logging in the Chapman watershed, old growth, and sensitive ecosystems. It invests in restoration, wildfire mitigation, and trails, while exploring carbon revenue from standing forests. Profits remain on the Coast, with stumpage still paid to the Province.

SCCF has asked the Province to expand onto BCTS tenure and has committed to protecting the aquifer recharge areas there. It has invited the shíshálh Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, the Town of Gibsons and the SCRD to join the District of Sechelt as partners. The decision sits in Victoria.

Question

If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Support a Community Forest partnership with the shíshálh Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, the District of Sechelt, the Town of Gibsons and the SCRD, with the free, prior and informed consent of both Nations.
Approve the Community Forest’s request to expand onto Mount Elphinstone, replacing BC Timber Sales there.
Write these conditions into the Community Forest agreement for the existing tenure and any expansion:
1. Ecosystem-based management
2. No logging in the Chapman watershed, old growth, or sensitive and underrepresented ecosystems
3. 30 percent protection of every biogeoclimatic zone
4. Protection of aquifer recharge areas, and continued investment in watershed assessment and restoration

Randene Neill, BC NDP (incumbent)

I support a Community Forest partnership with the shíshálh Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, the District of Sechelt, the Town of Gibsons and the SCRD, with the free, prior and informed consent of both Nations.

I also support the Community Forest being allowed to bid for BCTS’ auction blocks in Elphinstone.

We need to ensure our watersheds and recharge areas are protected, particularly in the wake of climate change.

Griffin Leonard Lea, BC Green Party

1. I fully support a Community Forest partnership with the shíshálh Nation, Sk̲wx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, the District of Sechelt, the Town of Gibsons and the SCRD, with the free, prior and informed consent of both Nations. BC Greens believe in expanding community and First Nations forestry by increasing the number and size of community forests, removing requirements that force them to maintain the Annual Allowable Cut, and working toward dedicating 20% of AAC to community forests.

2. The current Mount Elphinstone Class A Provincial Park only protects 140 hectares of forest in three tiny, separated spots. I would advocate to expand its protection to 2,100 hectares to include and connect both the remnants of old growth forest and old growth recruitment areas. These changes would need support and collaboration from the First Nations.

3. All of these conditions belong in the Community Forest agreement and I would advocate to have them included.

John Henderson, Conservative Party

Question 5: Protect Our Rivers

Background

Schedule 2 of the Clean Energy Act bans eleven large dam projects, including the Homathko River on the upper Sunshine Coast. The Homathko River is protected by the Homathko River-Tatlayoko Protected Area (1996), Homathko Estuary Provincial Park (1997), and nine Grizzly Bear Wildlife Habitat Areas (2008).

The Homathko flows from the Chilcotin Plateau to Bute Inlet through seven biogeoclimatic zones. It supports chinook, chum, bull trout, and eulachon runs; grizzly and black bears; wolves; cougars; deer; waterfowl; shorebirds; and a red-listed Sitka spruce floodplain forest.

BC’s outdoor recreation sector generated $17 billion in 2023 and supported 132,000 jobs; recreational fishing contributes $1.2 billion and 6,200 jobs, and coastal bear viewing earns far more than bear hunting. This summer, drought restricted irrigation on the Salmon River and Bessette Creek to protect Chinook salmon, which the last 74 Southern Resident killer whales need to survive.

In June 2026, the Energy Minister announced plans to amend the Clean Energy Act to allow a technical review of the Homathko and Site E, the first step toward lifting the ban.

This is not one dam. A 2026 proposal shows dams on the upper Homathko and Mosley Creek inside the protected area, more dams on the Bishop River beside Bishop River Provincial Park, three powerhouses, a substation in the park, and new transmission lines down the Homathko and along the Southgate valley, across overlapping territories of at least four First Nations.

These dams would do permanent damage. Reservoirs would flood valleys, block salmon, warm the water and trap the gravel and sediment that build spawning beds and the estuary. The terrain is unstable: in 2020, a landslide at nearby Elliot Creek triggered a 100-metre wave in a glacial lake and sent a flood down a 10-kilometre channel, wiping out salmon habitat.

The elephant in the room is that LNG demand is driving these dams.

Projects already underway, including Woodfibre and Cedar LNG, will need more than 16,000 gigawatt hours a year, over three times what Site C produces, and LNG Canada Phase 2 and Ksi Lisims have already asked BC Hydro for another 1,185 megawatts, more than all of Site C’s 1,100.

BC ratepayers and taxpayers carry the cost of dam infrastructure that feeds corporate profits.

Question

If elected, will you advocate for the following, and why?

Protect our rivers. Keep the dam bans in the Clean Energy Act, with no exceptions, including for technical review.
Require any review of new power generation to weigh fisheries, tourism, recreation and cultural values, not only megawatts.
Support Homalco’s economic goals through alternative energy projects and provide direct funding for their community infrastructure requests.

Randene Neill, BC NDP (incumbent)

Griffin Leonard Lea, BC Green Party

1. As MLA, I would be a strong defender of our rivers. Large hydroelectric dams are a power source of the past, are increasingly costly compared with solar and wind, and are simply not worth the devastation they level on our rivers and watersheds. I would work to keep the dam bans in the Clean Energy Act, with no exceptions, including for technical review. I’m deeply concerned that Energy Minister Adrian Dix has begun to re-examine new hydroelectric dams as our electricity demand increases (largely as a result of a massive expansion of LNG and, increasingly, AI data centres).

2. Impact on fisheries, tourism, recreation, and cultural values must all be reviewed before approving new power generation.

3. Homalco and other First Nations deserve to have their economic goals supported and receive direct funding for their community infrastructure requests. BC Greens would create a Community Energy Project Office and standardized rules to help First Nations, local governments, cooperatives, strata corporations and community organizations develop and finance local solar, wind, storage and microgrid projects. We would also work to strengthen BC Hydro’s new Community Generation Service by working with community proponents to remove barriers as they arise, including around project size, compensation, ownership and grid connection.

John Henderson, Conservative Party