Every candidate on the ballot, rated on public access to public land

01 What was measured

One question was put to the record of every person on the ballot: is there anything a reader can check that shows where they stand on keeping public land open to the public, and on the roads and trails that outdoor recreation runs on? All 354 candidates are here, in every party and in every riding, exactly as Elections BC lists them on 9 October 2026.⁰¹

Each candidate gets the highest rating their record supports. There are four steps of support, and a fifth rating for a record that works against access.

1. Acted on it. The record shows a documented action on public access to backcountry, Crown land or recreation roads: in the Legislature (oral question, petition, motion, estimates questioning, member's statement on the subject) or a filed public act they led (joint demand, petition, FOI request, organized field day), with a source.
2. Said it. The record shows a sourced public statement, interview quote, campaign or platform item, or questionnaire answer supporting public access to backcountry, Crown land or recreation roads.
3. Mentioned it. The record shows recreation, outdoors, parks or trails mentioned in their materials without addressing access.
4. No public record found. Nothing on the subject was found in any of the sources searched.
5. On the record against access. The record shows a sourced statement or official act defending a specific road deactivation or closure, telling the public access may not be maintained or expected (for example "buyer beware", "not always feasible to maintain all resource roads"), or, as the responsible minister, approving or defending closures. Closures made under, or to implement, agreements with First Nations (for example the Joffre Lakes annual closures with the Líl̓wat and N'Quatqua Nations) are recorded as neutral evidence with their stated purpose, but do not count toward this rating.

“No public record found” is not a judgement on the person. Most of the people on this ballot have never held office. A first-time candidate has had no Legislature to speak in, no vote to cast and no budget to defend. The rating means only that nothing was found. Any candidate can change it in an afternoon by putting a position on the record.

Of the 354 candidates, 12 acted on it, 12 said it, 73 mentioned it, 1 is on the record against access, and 256 have no public record found. Among them are 79 sitting members asking to be sent back, and the Legislature gave every one of them a place to speak: 10 acted on it, 10 said it, 42 mentioned it, 1 is on the record against access and 16 left nothing on the record.

12Acted on it

12Said it

73Mentioned it

256No public record found

1Against access

Twelve candidates acted on it. Their ridings are the brightest orange on the map, and each card shows what they did, when and where it is recorded.

02 Find your riding

Pick a riding on the map, search for a name, or open the full list below it. Each riding is shaded by the best record among its candidates, and selecting it lays every candidate out side by side, with what they did or said, when, and the link to where it is recorded. Boundaries are the 93 districts in force at this election.⁰²

03 How the record was read

The record was read from Hansard, the record of the Legislature⁰³, the candidates’ own pages on their parties’ sites⁰⁴, news coverage⁰⁵ and statements and public actions published by organisations, the Province and the candidates themselves⁰⁶, and each rating links to the items it rests on.

Hansard was read for all 79 sitting members on the ballot, across every sitting of the last Parliament. Each of their speaking turns was searched for the words that mark the subject, from forest service roads and deactivation to Crown land and the backcountry, and every match was read by hand, because most of them turn out to be about something else: energy projects being decommissioned, encampments on Crown land, land moving in treaty transfers.⁰⁷ The count on each sitting member’s card is what that search found.

Every candidate’s page on their party’s site was fetched on 9 October and read for the same words. A corpus of 4,129 news articles from 45 British Columbia outlets, published since the campaign began, was searched for every name on the ballot, and targeted web searches were run candidate by candidate, with a second pass on 9 October for every candidate the first one had not reached.

Party platforms are not credited to candidates. The BC Greens’ Economic Vision promises an investment plan for BC Parks “alongside conservation and public access”,⁰⁸ and the Conservative Policy Declaration says “British Columbians deserve guaranteed access to public lands”.⁰⁹ If those words counted, every Green and every Conservative would be rated “Said it” for the same sentence. Each rating rests on what the candidate personally did or said.

Two calls are worth stating. A question to a minister about keeping resource roads maintained counts as acting on it even when it does not name recreation, which is how Lorne Doerkson and Sharon Hartwell are rated. A record that mainly defends closures, such as a minister telling the public a road may not be kept open, is rated “On the record against access” even where the same person also said something supportive, and both are listed in the evidence.

A rating rests only on what is in the record, and every item behind it is dated and linked so a reader can check it. A candidate who has done or said something that is missing here can send the link to contact@backcountry.cx, and the record is corrected and the rating with it. The names, parties and ridings are Elections BC’s, read from its final list and not retyped.⁰¹