![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784453782_269_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFormer B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier is the new leader of Centre B.C., a party he says is needed more than ever given the B.C. Conservatives shift to the right under Kerry-Lynne Findlay and growing dissatisfaction with the NDP under David Eby. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s actually kind of frightening to look at some of the mindset, some of the decisions and the commentary coming out of the B.C. Conservatives now, under their new leader,\u201d Bernier said, pointing to the party\u2019s shift towards what he called \u201cTrump-style politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After seven years in opposition critic roles, including finance critic, Bernier says the governing NDP is no better, blaming Eby for mismanaging the economy, health care and the affordability crisis. <\/p>\n
He says British Columbians are tired of the \u201cdivisive downward spiral of extreme politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernier says he\u2019s already getting phone calls from former B.C. Liberals, as well as current and former NDP and Conservative MLAs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just feel abandoned by their parties and they’re done. They feel they’re not being represented anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernier was the MLA for Peace River South from 2013 to 2024, elected under the B.C. Liberal banner before the party changed its name to B.C. United under Kevin Falcon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bernier was not taken on as a B.C. Conservative candidate in August 2024 after B.C. United withdrew from the election campaign and threw its support behind former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad. <\/p>\n
Some Conservatives expressed concerns with Bernier\u2019s role as the B.C. Liberal education minister, who brought in sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) policies in schools in 2016. The B.C. Conservatives under both Rustad and Findlay have promised to abolish SOGI, saying it brings \u201cideology\u201d into the classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH | SOGI a key issue in B.C. election campaign:<\/p>\n
SOGI 123 a key issue in B.C. election campaign<\/p>\n
The B.C. Conservative Party is promising to change the way sexuality and diversity are taught in schools if elected. SOGI 123 teaching materials have been the subject of controversy since they were provided to classrooms in 2016. And as Chad Pawson explains, the educational resources are proving to be a key issue in this campaign.<\/p>\n
Bernier says the anti-SOGI rhetoric is the \u201cperfect example of the divisive and fear-tactic politics\u201d that have proliferated in B.C., especially in the last election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll never apologize for putting people and children first. The safety of people in our schools, that’s what we did. We made sure that we put anti-bullying policies forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernier ran as an Independent in the 2024 provincial election and lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH | Former B.C. United MLA courts centrist voters with new political party:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784453783_313_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Former B.C. United MLA launches new centrist party<\/p>\n
A former B.C. United MLA is launching a new political party aimed at attracting centrist voters after her original party collapsed. As Katie DeRosa reports, Karin Kirkpatrick says she wants to offer a balanced option in a polarized political landscape.<\/p>\n
Bernier was selected by the Centre B.C. board to take over from former B.C. Liberal MLA Karin Kirkpatrick. She formed the party in April 2025 because she said the choice between the B.C. Conservatives, under Rustad, and NDP, under Eby, left her \u201cpolitically homeless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The B.C. Liberal name can\u2019t be revived because it is still owned by B.C. United, which is still led by Falcon.<\/p>\n
Centre B.C. sitting at single-digit support in recent polls <\/p>\n
A June poll by Research Co. found just three per cent of respondents said they would support Centre B.C. <\/p>\n
Bernier is undeterred. \u201cI think you’re going to see that polling number change very quickly,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That same poll put the B.C. Conservatives and B.C. NDP neck and neck, both with 42 per cent support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
B.C.\u2019s premier says he doesn\u2019t think Centre B.C. has been particularly successful but he \u201cwishes anyone who wants to get involved in the democratic process good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | Who now represents the Centre in B.C. politics?:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784453783_607_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Who now represents the centre in B.C. politics?<\/p>\n
Former B.C. United\/Liberal MLA Terry Lake and current B.C. United MLA Mike de Jong take calls from listeners on the future of politics in B.C.<\/p>\n
Eby tried to set his party apart from the Official Opposition Friday, slamming the party for hiring former Juno News editor Cosmin Dzsurdzsa as its director of communications. <\/p>\n
Several B.C. Conservative staffers who worked under Rustad and interim leader Trevor Halford have been fired as Findlay tries to rebuild her caucus leadership team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eby said Dzsurdzsa \u201cthinks the Conservative movement is strengthened by including people who would deport Canadians who happen to not be white back to what are supposedly their home countries even though they were born in Canada. That is a reprehensible and racist view.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney criticized Dzsurdzsa and Juno News for giving a debate platform to Daniel Tyrie, the former executive director of the far-right People’s Party of Canada. Tyrie now heads the Dominion Society, a group the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has described as part of “Canada’s white nationalist movement.”<\/p>\n
On social media in February, Dzsurdzsa defended the debate, titled \u201cHow to reverse the disastrous impact of [Justin] Trudeau\u2019s mass immigration policy.\u201d He wrote: “For the better part of a decade anyone who even questioned the suicidal mass immigration orthodoxy thrust upon countries like Canada was smeared as a \u2018racist.\u2019\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The party has also hired Apollo Chung as its director of operations and stakeholder relations. <\/p>\n
Chung previously worked as the chief financial officer for the Republican Party of Alberta, a party which has campaigned for Alberta to separate from the rest of Canada and which has sought support from U.S. politicians to do so. Chung also worked as a constituency assistant for NDP Finance Minister Brenda Bailey until 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CBC News requested an interview with Findlay about a range of topics, including the recent hires. <\/p>\n
WATCH | New B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay says party unity a priority:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784453784_726_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
New B.C. Conservative leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, says party unity a priority<\/p>\n
The B.C. Conservative Party has elected former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay as its new leader. CBC\u2019s Michelle Eliot spoke with Findlay, who said party unity will be a priority for her leadership.<\/p>\n
“David Eby, in keeping with his extremist socialist ideology, just returned from a visit to China, instead of concerning himself with yet another pulp mill closure in Prince George and all the consequent job and economic losses,” Findlay said through her chief of staff in a written statement.<\/p>\n
“David Eby thought it was a good idea to give China $1B of B.C. taxpayers\u2019 money to build ferries that British Columbians could\u2019ve built instead. He is a radical leftist who is bereft of ideas and divides British Columbians by race. He is in no position to lecture anyone about anything,” the statement continued.<\/p>\n
University of British Columbia political scientist Stewart Prest said some of Findlay’s hires in caucus leadership roles could be \u201calienating\u201d to voters, which could create some appetite for a centrist option. <\/p>\n
Prest says in the current first-past-the-post system makes it harder for small parties to succeed, making it an uphill battle for Centre B.C. <\/p>\n
As for the B.C. Conservative and NDP MLAs Bernier says are curious about Centre B.C. under his leadership, he wouldn\u2019t name names. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier is the new leader of Centre B.C., a party he says is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-811889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}