B.C. leaders’ debate: Eby, Rustad and Furstenau trade barbs [Video]

The leaders of B.C.’s main political parties sparred over health care, housing and climate change Tuesday, pitching competing visions for how to address the most urgent issues facing the province in a debate punctuated by a few feisty exchanges.

The only televised, multi-platform debate in the lead up to the Oct. 19 election comes as polls show the race between the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Conservatives remains strikingly close.

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David Eby and John Rustad aimed most of their barbs at one another.

The Conservative leader called Eby an “authoritarian,” repeatedly accused him of lying, and said he’d ushered in policies that have turned the government into a “drug dealer.”

The NDP leader said Rustad has a platform made out of “pixie dust,” and called his opponent a climate change denier and anti-vaxxer whose extreme views are “embarrassing” for the province.

B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said neither of her …