The two main provincial party leaders brought competing pitches for small business to Surrey on Wednesday, each arguing their plan would do more to help owners weather tariffs and rising costs.
NDP Leader David Eby announced a $500-million Small Business Tariff and Wildfire Relief Fund, which would offer interest-free loans of up to $1 million for up to 72 months to qualifying small and medium businesses recovering from wildfires or tariffs, according to the BC NDP’s official release. Eby said smaller businesses risked “falling through the gap” of federal tariff supports, and described the loans as what business leaders “said they need to be able to get through this period,” according to Canadian Press reporting from the event. He also announced a $5,000 refundable tax credit for small businesses that employ someone aged 18 to 30.
BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson countered from Crown Building Supplies in Newton, announcing his party would scrap the provincial sales tax on what he called “productive capital”: immediate investment in machinery, equipment and business software. The exemption would last three years, CP reported. “If we want to supercharge British Columbia’s economy, we need to stop penalizing the very companies trying to build it,” Doerkson said.
The competing announcements landed in a city where the question is personal. Newton’s commercial corridors are the small-business heartland of Surrey’s South Asian community, home to building suppliers, manufacturers, trucking firms and family-run shops, many of which buy the exact machinery and equipment Doerkson’s plan would exempt, and many of which are the kind of tariff-exposed firms Eby’s loan fund is meant to reach.
The two plans work in different ways. Eby’s fund is aimed at businesses already hurt, offering cash flow through interest-free loans and a hiring incentive. Doerkson’s PST exemption is aimed at businesses planning to invest, lowering the cost of new equipment. Neither leader provided a detailed costing of how their measure would be paid for, and both announcements came without independent analysis of their economic impact.
The dueling stops underline how central Surrey has become to the provincial campaign. With the snap vote set for October 24, both leaders are spending time in the city, and small business, a sector that employs thousands across Surrey, is clearly a battleground both want to win.
(Source: BC NDP official release, October 7, 2026 – bcndp.ca/releases)
