Listen to this article
Estimated 5 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Teresa Wat is the latest MLA to join the fledging political party set up by a group of former B.C. Conservatives. But, there’s also a push to revive a dormant political party whose collapse made way for the B.C. Conservatives to become the Official Opposition.
Wat said Friday the yet-unnamed political party led by Peter Milobar is the best option to defeat the NDP government.
“We believe in fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity … and bringing people together instead of dividing them.”
It means the party will have six MLAs and will have third party standing in the B.C. Legislature, leapfrogging the B.C. Greens.
The party has not yet been officially registered by Elections B.C.
The B.C. Conservatives have lost nine MLAs since Kerry-Lynne Findlay took over as leader.
WATCH | 2 more B.C. Conservatives MLAs quit over Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s leadership:
2 more B.C. Conservatives MLAs quit over Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s leadership
Two more B.C. Conservative MLA quit caucus, citing issues with Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s leadership, bringing the total number of defections so far to nine in the past several weeks.
Ian Paton, A’aliya Warbus, Bruce Banman and Rosalyn Bird have also signed on to the new party. Brennan Day, Scott McInnis and Donegal Wilson remain as independents.
Meanwhile, Carol Fielding, a former B.C. Liberal organizer is calling on B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon to step down so that the party can revive the B.C. Liberal brand. Falcon renamed the B.C. Liberals to B.C. United in 2023, a rebranding exercise that Fielding and other long-time Liberals said was a disaster.
Falcon remains the leader of the party, two years after he withdrew from the provincial election and threw his support behind the upstart B.C. Conservatives under John Rustad.
WATCH | B.C. United suspends campaign, joins forces with B.C. Conservative Party:
B.C. United suspends campaign, joins forces with B.C. Conservative Party
B.C. United is ending its election campaign and joining forces with the surging Conservative Party of B.C. in a move intended to unite the right-of-centre vote.
Fielding says it’s time for Falcon to say to British Columbians: “We did what we thought was best at the time. It didn’t work.”
“All of these new parties are starting up to try and fill a gap that we naturally should be filling ourselves.”
Banman, the MLA for Abbotsford South, says having six MLAs in the legislature is what gives the party the advantage over a potential B.C. Liberal revival or CentreBC, a political party led by former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Mike Bernier.
“There’s one major difference between those other ones and us. We’re the only ones with MLAs. So there’s one group here that’s serious, that has experience, and that’s us,” he said.
CentreBC leader warns of vote splitting
Bernier says he’s frustrated Milobar is setting up a new party which could split votes further.
“CentreBC realizes that we need to work together and not split the vote, and we have the party, the infrastructure, the volunteers and many candidates already,” he says.
Bernier says he even offered to step aside and make way for a new leader “because it would be the right thing to do to work together to try to beat the NDP.”
Representatives with the Independent Contractors and Business Association are working as a go between among the various centre factions.
Jordan Bateman, the association’s vice-president of marketing and a former B.C. Liberal riding association president, was among the group of political operatives who met underneath a downtown Vancouver White Spot last month to discuss the future of the centre-right coalition.
“There’s the saying when you make an omelette, sometimes you got to break eggs, right? It’s a messy process when when you’re starting something new, you know, there’s lots of different ideas floating around,” he said.
Bateman and association president Chris Gardner hosted eight of the nine departed B.C. Conservative MLAs at a meeting in their Surrey office this week.
WATCH | Former B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier named leader of Centre B.C.:
Former B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier named leader of Centre B.C.
Former B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier has been named the new leader of Centre B.C. Bernier says a centrist party is needed to give British Columbians an alternative to “divisive” and “extreme” politics.
“CentreBC is having real problems finding traction with any of the MLAs who have left. So the option for voters who are concerned about the Conservatives that definitely don’t want the NDP back, it’s going to end up being the one with actual MLAs in the house.”
Bateman says dusting off the B.C. Liberal brand is not a winning strategy.
As for the B.C. Conservatives, Findlay is focused on winning the byelection in Abbotsford-Mission, which will give her a seat in the legislature and potentially hold her critics at bay.
Findlay told CBC News Friday the door is not closed for departed MLAs.
“We’re talking to some of them who have left about coming back already. I’m just letting them know they’re welcome.”
Findlay did not say which MLAs she’s referring to. Six MLAs also left or were kicked out before Findlay became the leader: Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong, Jordan Kealy, Elenore Sturko, Amelia Boultbee and Hon Chan. Boultbee is now part of the NDP caucus. Kealy and Chan are facing criminal charges.
“There’s far more that have stayed than have left. And many many left under the previous two leaders. So we will see some adjustments.”