A surge in the polls has the BC Conservative party picturing representatives elected to Victoria.

Mainstreet Media released a poll Monday showing the BC Conservative Party has 8.9 per cent support provincewide, and 15.9 per cent in the province when Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island are removed from the equation.

The polling firm surveyed 1,511 British Columbians aged 18 and over March 5 and 6. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.52 per cent and is accurate 19 times out of 20.

鈥淭hanks to the hard work of the board and my advisory team, as well as individual members of the party, we are well on our way to sending Conservative MLAs to Victoria,鈥� said Vernon city councillor Scott Anderson, interim leader of the BC Conservatives.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 seen this kind of surge in the polls for several years, and now that the BC Liberals have elected a Trudeau Liberal as leader, the BC Conservatives are the only credible voice for conservatism in British Columbia.鈥�

Anderson believes the surge is due to the emergence of his party as a credible, responsible alternative to the tax-and-spend BC Liberal party at a time of impending economic crisis in British Columbia.

鈥淭he BC NDP, with the active collusion of the Green Party, has raised taxes on individuals, put heavier burdens on businesses, municipalities, and public organizations like school districts, and have even managed to start a trade war with a neighbouring province over a pipeline crucial to Canada鈥檚 economic interests,鈥� said Anderson. 鈥淎nd in April they will raise the BC Liberal Carbon tax to the highest level ever, which means that the price of virtually everything will go up too.鈥�

By way of contrast to the three other parties, the BC Conservatives have proposed forward thinking economic ideas, including support for Kinder Morgan, Site C and the Ajax Mine, and a broad endorsement of responsibly regulated resource development, said Anderson. In addition, the party will abolish the hated Carbon Tax, reform ICBC and expose it to the private sector, and introduce legislation for new innovations like ride sharing and autonomous vehicles.

鈥淲e want to encourage technological advances in clean energy, resource development, and consumer products, and we think B.C. can be a leader in Canadian innovation,鈥� said Anderson. 鈥淏ut none of that is going to happen if the other three parties keep throwing stumbling blocks in front of economic development.鈥�

The BC Conservatives, he said, are a 鈥渂ig-tent conservative party dedicated to lower taxation, efficient service delivery, and smaller, more effective government.鈥�