BC Tech is non-partisan. That doesn’t mean we don’t have opinions – we advocate strongly on behalf of our members, their businesses and the family-supporting jobs they create here in BC. In the 24 October BC election, we made the same ask of every political party: back BC’s entrepreneurs and unleash the power of BC’s technology sector to deliver the durable economic growth that will bring us back into surplus and fund important government services. The platforms are now out and we’re publishing a scorecard so our members can see who has committed to what before Election Day. BC Tech’s view is that parties should say clearly and honestly what they’d prioritize and let the voters decide based on facts and data, not promises and vibes. Grades were assessed against BC Tech’s June 2026 research report, A New Economic Narrative, and our 11 associated policy recommendations. Parties are listed in alphabetical order.

CentreBC   Grade: C

CentreBC’s detailed, fully costed platform deserves credit for its rigour, including a 2% negotiated compensation mandate for public sector agreements while the deficit comes down. BC Tech estimates that public sector pay growth above 2% a year explains about half of BC’s projected $13.8B deficit for 2026/27. For tech, CentreBC would raise BC’s R&D tax credit from 10% to 15% and give every family doctor access to a Canadian-hosted AI scribe. But its AI chapter is more about regulating than growing a sector that powers 271,000 BC jobs, it would end new provincial investment in BC scale-ups through InBC, and it misses BC Tech’s number one, and lowest-cost, ask: a standing Premier’s Technology Council. Needs improvement: BC Tech’s grade is C.

Conservative   Grade: A-

The Conservatives have committed to a Premier’s Technology Council. This has been BC Tech’s number one ask of government for the past two years as it is a powerful mechanism to inject the ideas and energy of the tech sector into government to deliver better outcomes for citizens at lower cost. Their full platform also commits to a provincial tax incentive to keep BC-developed intellectual property such as patents and software here in BC and working with Ottawa on flow-through shares for tech companies. Scrapping PST on business software, machinery and equipment for three years would make it cheaper for BC businesses to invest, which is good news for tech companies’ customers and great news for BC’s productivity. Add to that a commitment to fairer access to public procurement for BC companies, an AI strategy that balances economic opportunity with appropriate safeguards and no increase to the top rate of income tax, and this starts to look like a serious plan for BC’s tech economy. Their costed plan brings the deficit down to $10.8 billion by 2029/30, but the path to balance is undefined, which lowers the grade. Still, the best tech proposals of all the parties: BC Tech’s grade is A-.

Green   Grade: C-

The Greens were first out of the gate, and their economic vision, ‘A New Economic Direction for British Columbia’, is clear about what they’d do and how they’d pay for it. It picks up a number of BC Tech’s recommendations – not just a Premier’s Technology Council, but also the province co-investing with private capital in BC tech companies, using public procurement to grow BC technology companies, making it easier for people to retrain and change careers, and improving how BC measures and reports on its economy. Our expectations of a party without a realistic route to forming government are different – we look to it for policy innovation – and on that measure the Greens offer an impressively thoughtful set of ideas across the board. But their eye-watering tax proposals would fall hardest on the founders and investors who build and scale BC companies, whose wealth is mostly tied up in the businesses themselves. Good ideas on tech, undercut by a tax agenda that works against them. Overall, BC Tech’s grade is C-.

NDP   Grade: F

This platform was a surprise given the NDP’s consistently expressed commitment to tech and innovation since it formed government in 2017. The loss of economically savvy cabinet heavyweights like Brenda Bailey and Ravi Kahlon is perhaps part of the reason, but the only technology policies in this NDP platform are caps and restrictions on AI data centres – nothing to grow the sector. The NDP says it will grow the economy to close the deficit, yet its own costing plan shows a deficit of about $12 billion every year, with growth coming only from major resource projects. Services make up 78% of BC’s economy, and the NDP platform offers nothing to support the tech and services firms that would have to deliver that growth – no Premier’s Technology Council and no AI economic strategy. Its new “Built in B.C.” buying rules cover steel, wood and cement but not software and services. And while we support a new BC shipyard, the NDP would put up to $250 million of the province’s $400 million Strategic Investment Fund into one project, leaving far less to co-invest with Ottawa in BC scale-ups. Tax rates have a clear and direct impact on BC’s ability to attract and keep the people who found and scale the companies that create BC jobs – and parties intent on forming government should understand those consequences. The NDP’s proposed changes would take BC’s top combined marginal rate to 57.5%: the highest in Canada by a wide margin and second only to Denmark among developed economies. Disappointing: from BC Tech it’s an F.

OneBC   Grade: F

OneBC’s platform has nothing to say about technology or innovation. Its headline promises – cutting every income tax bracket and the corporate rate by 25% and the PST by two points, while balancing the budget within four years – might appeal to founders and investors on paper, but there is no costing to show how the numbers add up. With nothing for the tech sector and no credible plan to pay for its promises, there is little here. BC Tech’s grade is an F.