---
title: "Doerkson defends Conservative 3.2% growth projection as achievable"
description: "BC Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson says the party's economic growth target of 3.2 per cent by 2029 is achievable, while NDP leader David Eby says the platform has major cost omissions."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/lorne-doerkson-conservative-growth-projection-october-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-20T00:00:12.777Z"
---

BC Conservative interim leader [Lorne Doerkson](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/lorne-doerkson) said at a Maple Ridge campaign stop on October 19 that his party's projection of 3.2 per cent economic growth by 2029 is achievable. NDP leader David Eby said the same day that the Conservative platform has "major omissions" in how the party would pay for its plans, according to CityNews Vancouver reporting by Brenna Owen of The Canadian Press.

The Conservative platform projects GDP growth of 2.5 per cent in year one, 2.8 per cent in year two, and 3.2 per cent in 2029, according to CityNews Vancouver. The party says these figures would produce $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years and reduce the provincial deficit to $10.8 billion. All figures are the Conservative Party's own projections and have not been independently verified.

The 3.2 per cent target is more than 50 per cent higher than the forecast in the last provincial budget, CityNews Vancouver reports. The article also notes it is higher than recent Bank of Canada and International Monetary Fund projections at the national level.

Doerkson told the Maple Ridge crowd the growth is "absolutely doable." He said industries including natural gas, forestry, mining and agriculture have held back investment because of "fear" under the NDP government and will invest after a change in government. These are Doerkson's own claims about future investor behaviour.

Eby, speaking at a Vancouver campaign stop on the same day, said the Conservatives are "torquing the numbers." He pointed to the party's plan to cut the Provincial Sales Tax on alcohol as a commitment that has not been costed. "They failed to cost basic platform commitments like their cut to the (Provincial Sales Tax) on alcohol, which costs almost $300 million," Eby said, according to CityNews Vancouver. "It is all with the aim of minimizing the reality of the cuts they're going to have to make."

The Conservative Party is not quoted in the CityNews article responding to Eby's PST figure.

The provincial election is October 24, 2026. Advance voting ran October 16 to 21. You can see all /bc/provincial-2026/parties platforms on this site to compare what each party has committed to before voting day.

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