Watch the B.C. election provincial leaders’ debate live

It is the only scheduled leaders’ debate leading up to the B.C. election on Oct. 24 and it takes place tonight starting at 6:15 p.m.

BC NDP leader David Eby, BC Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson and BC Green Party leader Emily Lowan will be taking part.

Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, will be the moderator.

The debate will continue until 8 p.m. and will be followed by a live post-debate show with Keith Baldrey and Ben O’Hara-Byrne.

This debate comes at a crucial time in the campaign.

An exclusive Ipsos poll, conducted with Global BC, showed that the BC Conservatives have now gained a five-point lead over the BC NDP.

“David Eby has two tasks in the leaders’ debate,” Kyle Braid, senior vice president of Ipsos, said on Tuesday morning.

“One is to create some sense of risk for people for electing a BC Conservative government. And the other is to try to persuade some of those voters who are considering either the NDP or the Greens that a vote for the NDP is the correct choice.

“Lorne Doerkson’s main thing is simply to introduce himself to voters in the province. Most people don’t know him. The other thing is quite simply just to stand up and look like a premier. That’s it.”

This story will be updated during and after the debate on Wednesday evening.