Economy and public finance
Keep more of what you earn.
What's wrong
BC's 2026 budget projects a record $13.3 billion deficit for 2026-27. It raised the lowest personal income tax rate from 5.06% to 5.60% on the first $50,363 of income. A larger tax-reduction credit offsets part of that: the Times Colonist reported that the average taxpayer pays about $76 more, and about 40% of taxpayers still see savings.
The budget also pauses the inflation adjustment on tax brackets from 2027 to 2030, which means raises that only keep up with prices can still push people into higher tax rates. From October 1, 2026, PST also applies to more services, including accounting and real estate fees.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- 25% tax cuts for every single tax bracket, including corporate.
- 2% off the Provincial Sales Tax (PST).
- Undertake an audit of British Columbia's over 176,000 regulations to reduce bureaucratic bloat.
- Approve a pipeline to the Port of Prince Rupert or Kitimat to get Canadian energy to foreign markets.
- The government's role is not to create jobs. Its role is to create a proper environment in which private business can thrive, and to send proper business signals to the market so capital stops fleeing.
Health care
World-class care, when you need it.
What's wrong
Nearly 1.3 million British Columbians have no regular family doctor or primary care provider. The Health Minister told the legislature that the median wait to be matched through the Health Connect Registry is 241 days in Fraser Health. The province says about 4,000 people are matched every week.
Mission Memorial's emergency department ran reduced hours for 51 nights in a row this spring, and Fraser Health announced 16 more overnight closures in August because of physician staffing. The $18 million expansion is due to finish in spring 2027.
A new 388-bed acute care tower opened at Surrey Memorial on May 31, 2026. At Abbotsford Regional Hospital the most recent announced work is equipment, such as a new MRI suite that opened in September 2026.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Private health care alongside fully funded public health care.
- Shift administration and HR spending to frontline employees and resources.
Education
Tell parents how their child is doing, and make them partners.
What's wrong
Since 2023-24, BC public schools have used a four-level proficiency scale (emerging, developing, proficient, extending) instead of letter grades from kindergarten to Grade 9. Grades 10 to 12 still receive letter grades.
BC's PISA math score fell from 538 in 2003 to 496 in 2022, a drop of 42 points. Fraser Institute analysis of the OECD data treats about 20 points as roughly a year of learning.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Bring back standardized testing, with a focus on reading, writing and mathematics.
- Remove SOGI 123 and politicized content from classrooms.
- Institute a Parental Bill of Rights guaranteeing informed consent and classroom transparency for parents of minor-age students.
Housing
Cut the government's share of the price.
What's wrong
Rents have been falling: average asking rents in BC are down about 4.5% from a year ago, and Abbotsford was among the largest declines for purpose-built rentals. That is welcome. Falling prices alongside slow construction are a pause, not a plan.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Eliminate the Step Code that is raising housing costs with unnecessary green building requirements.
- Block municipal rent control programs that disincentivize development and new units being put up for rent.
Drugs and addiction
Treatment, not more of the same.
What's wrong
More than 18,000 people have died of toxic drugs in BC since the public health emergency was declared in April 2016. Deaths peaked at 2,590 in 2023 and were about 1,830 in 2025. Fraser Health's region had the most deaths of any health authority in 2025, at 533.
The province has since ended its decriminalization pilot (on January 31, 2026) and take-home safer supply. Since January 1, 2026, prescription opioids must be taken under supervision. Ending an approach is not the same as building a treatment system.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Eliminate safe supply and drug consumption programs.
- Cancel all new drug consumption sites, and turn current consumption sites into drug recovery centres.
- Involuntary drug rehab and housing for the severely addicted.
- Roll back all decriminalization programs and crack down on open drug use.
Crime and justice
Safer streets, starting with the few who commit most of the crime.
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Crack down on repeat and violent offenders. Focus the resources of the criminal justice system on those committing most of the crime.
- Prosecutors will be instructed to consider past charges or convictions as an indicator of future danger to the public. Dropping charges against those who abuse the system will be disincentivized.
- Protect our ports. Work with the federal government to counter the organized international criminal elements that smuggle drugs and firearms into our country.
- No mask wearing during protests.
Generational debt
Stop handing the bill to our children.
Source: OneBC plan
What Virender and OneBC will do
- Balanced budgets within four years, with an aim towards running surplus budgets.
- A portion of budget surpluses put towards debt repayment, to quickly reduce the cost of debt servicing.
- Every tax dollar spent servicing debt is a tax dollar not spent on health care. Credit downgrades and high interest costs make everything less affordable.
Biographie
Virender Dass grew up in Ambala Cantt in northern India, the son of a steelworker, and built an 18-year career in visual effects in senior creative and technical roles. He came to Canada in 2014 as a technical director at Industrial Light & Magic's Vancouver studio, and went on to work at DNEG and Digital Domain on films including Blade Runner 2049, First Man and The Revenant.
In 2017 he founded Wellness Extract, a natural health products company that sells in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The company has operated from Abbotsford for four years, employs about 40 people worldwide, and is planning a packaging and manufacturing facility that would add around 50 local jobs. He and his wife Upasana also run SmartVeda, an Abbotsford learning centre that teaches mental math and creative activities to children.
He founded the Santosh Care Foundation, a registered Canadian charity named after his mother, which supports nutrition for low-income people living with chronic illness and runs tree-planting and habitat restoration drives. He is a member of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce.
Virender is running for OneBC because he believes British Columbia has become a place where it is harder every year to build a business, afford a home, or get a straight answer from government. He is running on the OneBC plan: lower taxes, balanced budgets, safer streets, and schools and health care that work.
Raison de la candidature
I came here in 2014, built a company, and started a learning centre for children with my wife. I have learned how much a province can get in the way of people trying to build something. This is what I see:
- The province projects a record $13.3 billion deficit this year, and still raised the lowest income-tax rate and widened the PST. The details
- Nearly 1.3 million British Columbians have no regular family doctor. The details
- BC's PISA math score fell 42 points between 2003 and 2022. The details
- More than 18,000 people have died of toxic drugs since 2016. The details
My own example is small but it is real. For a year I have been looking for a building in Abbotsford where my company can package and manufacture, so that the jobs are here and not somewhere else. Serviced industrial land is scarce, permits are slow, and every month of delay is a month of payroll that goes to another province or country. Every business owner in this valley has a version of that story.
I am running on the OneBC plan, because it is the plan I believe in. Cut every tax bracket by 25% and take 2% off the PST. Balance the budget within four years so our children are not paying our interest. Bring back standardized testing, take SOGI 123 and politics out of classrooms, and give parents a Bill of Rights. End safe supply, turn consumption sites into recovery centres, and get the severely addicted into treatment. Eliminate the Step Code so homes cost less to build. Crack down on the repeat offenders who commit most of the crime. Audit 176,000 regulations so people like me can get a permit in months, not years.
A local voice should answer to the people who elected them. Virender's Community Contract:
- Reply to every constituent message within 24 to 48 hours.
- Hold timely town halls in Mission and Abbotsford.
- Not vote for new provincial consumer taxes.
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