Photo: Jon Manchester

When three-time Vernon-Monashee incumbent Eric Foster announced he'd seek re-election in this provincial election, he called it "a campaign like no other."

And, thanks to the global coronavirus pandemic, he was right.

The BC Liberal is up against by three challengers – Harwinder Sandhu of the BC NDP, Keli Westgate with the BC Greens, and BC Conservative Kyle Delfing.

With social distancing concerns and provincial restrictions on large gatherings, there have been no normal campaign meet and greets, and no in-person candidate forums.

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce held an online forum via Zoom, but that has been the only real chance to see the candidates go head to head.

Foster called John Horgan's election call "totally unnecessary" and blasted the governing NDP for opportunism while it has been polling high for its response to the pandemic, and for putting people's health at risk.

He said this campaign would be "different than any we have done before ... no door-knocking, no hand shaking, that kind of thing."

Sandhu, a nurse at Vernon Jubilee Hospital, ran unsuccessfully against Steve Thomson in Kelowna-Mission in the 2017 provincial election.

She has volunteered with the party at both the federal and provincial levels and also ran federally in the last election.

Her campaign was marred by multiple acts of vandalism against her signs, including racist graffiti in at least one incident.

She says running in the provincial election is a natural extension of the work she does at VJH.

"When deciding to run, I had to ask myself, do I try to improve health care by working at the hospital or should I go to Victoria to join John Horgan's government and work for better health care for all British Columbians?" Sandhu said when she announced her candidacy.

Her leader, the NDP's John Horgan, was the only party leader to stop in Vernon during the campaign, making a brief whistle stop at a local coffee shop.

The Greens' Westgate earned a surprise endorsement during the campaign, getting a public show of support from former local NDP candidate Barry Dorval.

Westgate ran against Foster and Dorval in the 2017 provincial election, coming in third place.

"We had bumped into each other at a climate action rally a while back, and at that time he had expressed his disillusionment with the NDP and their handling of the climate crisis," said Westgate. "When the snap election was called, I reached out to him and he immediately knew he wanted to support the Greens in this election."

Westgate garnered 21 per cent of the popular vote in 2017's election, the highest-ever percentage the Greens have earned in the riding.

BC Conservative Kyle Delfing previously ran in the 2019 federal election under the People's Party of Canada banner.

The party is fielding just 19 candidates across the province.

Delfing owns a local moving company and says B.C. needs a fresh face in politics outside the established old-school parties.

Suspending the carbon tax and reinvigorating B.C.'s forest industry are among his top priorities, along with dealing with the overdose crisis and street entrenched populations, both locally and provincially.

Foster handily beat his rivals in 2017.

He took 48 per cent of the vote, compared to 29 per cent for the NDP’s Barry Dorval, and 21 per cent for Keli Westgate.