A roundup of debate commentary from last night is available here. Here’s what people are saying today:

“Rustad is definitely not kind of a warm and fuzzy guy who's like oozing with charisma or anything like that. He sometimes reminds me a little bit of Mr. Burns on the Simpsons when Mr. Burns ran for Governor.” -Mike Smyth

“A miserable-looking Rustad, who barely cracked a single smile over the entire 90-minute event, failed to rise to the moment.” -Rob Shaw

“I just think overall, John Rustad did not fare very well. He came across looking kind of detached from the other two. He won't even look at the other two.” -Keith Baldrey

“I thought [Rustad] was (like the others) nervous off the top - and then a little too meek about pushing into the debate when he had something to say.” -Lynda Steele

“We saw why during 20 years in the B.C. legislature, a bunch of Liberals that worked with John Rustad didn't see him as a leader.” -Vaughn Palmer

“Rustad didn’t create much of a connection, he didn’t make a compelling case on what kind of change he represents, and he was often on the defensive.” -Khelsilem

“And John Rustad, in the meantime, was the guy who sees a problem, says the problem is a big problem and then says that he has the common sense solution to solve the problem, but doesn't actually say how.” -Mo Amir

“And I thought the two biggest moments for David Eby were the moments where he talked about the economy, the moments where he talked about crime, that line he had about organized crime, money laundering, and how John Rustad's supposedly part of all that. I thought that was a really strong line for him.” -Kareem Allam

“And one thing I've learned in television over the years, how you look and how you come across is arguably just as important as what you say. And the visual component of that debate last night did not favour John Rustad and it favoured David Eby and to a lesser degree Sonia Furstenau.” -Keith Baldrey

“B.C. NDP Leader David Eby portrayed B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad as an anti-vaccine climate change denier who is advancing harmful conspiracy theories and making promises that are not grounded in financial reality.” -Katie DeRosa

“But Mr. Rustad is a staid, quiet and somewhat colourless fellow, certainly by political standards. It’s not generally a template for a great debate performance and on that front he delivered as expected.” -Gary Mason

“[Rustad] stared off into the distance, refusing to make eye contact with his opponents. He didn’t look into the camera to speak directly to voters at home. He delivered monotone answers, absent the passion and emotion you’d expect from someone whipping up a change movement built upon public anger. His makeup gave him the pallor of a cadaver.” -Rob Shaw

“Eby did really well in the debate. He didn’t react to Furstenau’s jabs, daylighted Rustad’s character, and struck the right tone to convince voters he is the best option to lead the Province.” -Khelsilem

“I watched the debate last night, and I think that David Eby was the clear winner. I think that he's got a future vision for our province. And, you know, he wants to build homes for people. John Rustad seemed tired. He seemed unprepared. And I think it's really irresponsible that they haven't released a platform and advanced voting starts tomorrow.” -Nicole, caller on CKNW

“If [Rustad] had prepared any new lines to use against David Eby, to help prosecute a seven-year record of NDP government, he must have forgotten them. At times, he looked nervous. At other times, he looked like an android someone had turned off.” -Rob Shaw

At the same time, people know nonsense when they hear it, and Mr. Rustad’s pronouncement that his party, if elected, will get rid of all homeless encampments immediately and put people in homes and in proper care facilities was just that. While wonderful in theory, there isn’t nearly the infrastructure needed to fulfill that promise. Not even close. It’s a pipedream, wrapped inside a fairy tale, sprinkled with pixie dust. -Gary Mason

“Rustad was sort of off on his own, looking older and also with a relentlessly negative tone, talking about people dying as he walked into the CBC and seen someone on the street dying from a drug overdose, a graphic description of a woman covered in blood in the hospital room. I was watching it with a number of colleagues, especially a number of female colleagues, who found this all kind of off putting.” -Keith Baldrey

“[Rustad] did not accomplish what he needed to accomplish, in my view… he's grim. His anecdotes are clumsy. He mostly doesn't even look at the camera. And I'm no TV expert, but I thought that's what you were supposed to do. And he barely smiled.” -Vaughn Palmer

“By not looking at the camera, by not looking voters in the eye [Rustad] may not have made a connection with voters who are not already supporters.” -Hamish Telford

“But you do have to offer people some hope. You need to say, ‘I've got the solutions to this, I am inspirational and decisive and I'll make the changes that need to happen.’ You know, I think if a leader can't convey some confidence and some notion that they have the answers, I think, you know, it's not enough to just be negative and grim. You've also got to give people some hope that you're the answer.” -Vaughn Palmer (on Rustad)

“[Rustad] is not the premier-in-waiting that undecided voters wanted to see. And it did absolutely nothing to push back against the NDP attempts to portray him as an odd man prone to wacky conspiracy theories who leads a team of weirdos that should not be given the keys to government.” -Rob Shaw

“Despite his many years in politics, Rustad looked a bit like a deer in the headlights. That said, he also came
across as relatively unthreatening for undecideds who may have expected something else. Fine line between cadaverous and understated.” -Ben O'Hara-Byrne

“The NDP Leader landed blows around Mr. Rustad’s skepticism of climate change – just as another massive climate-change related hurricane is closing in on Florida. And then there was the podcast Mr. Rustad appeared on in which he indicated support for a Nuremburg-like trial for those responsible for introducing vaccine mandates in Canada – a comment he later walked back.” -Gary Mason

“I'm not sure the nuance between being vaccinated or being pro-vaccine and being pro-mandate, I don't think nuance really picks you up a lot of votes. We've done a lot of polling in my firm and people support Bonne Henry. People supported the vaccine mandates in large, large numbers. So I'm not sure that John Rustad picked up any centrist votes with that exchange, with that exchange in that part of the debate.” -Kareem Allam

“Mr. Rustad has made a lot of big announcements that are going to include a lot of spending, particularly on the housing front. His housing promise, if fulfilled to its potential, would add four billion dollars to the deficit if you cancel the carbon tax, that's another three billion dollars to the deficit, which is already projected to come in at nine billion so he's pushing it up to fifteen, sixteen billion. But also promising to balance the budget in two terms and giving us no sense of how that is going to be accomplished, leaving him open to attacks that he's going to be cutting things, especially health care.” -Hamish Telford

“It was a rough night for Rustad. He needed something special to halt NDP momentum and he failed spectacularly. Eby was solid.” -Gary Mason