With files from Clayton DeMaine.
In a stunning turn of events, BC United suspended its campaign in this fall’s provincial election with leader Kevin Falcon resigning from his role to support the rival BC Conservatives.
The move comes as BC United has been bleeding support to the BC Conservatives over the past year, dropping from second place to the fourth most popular party in the race.
In a dual statement, the B.C. Conservatives announced that Falcon was “encouraging all BC united supporters to unite behind John Rustad and the Conservative Party of BC to prevent another four years of disastrous NDP government.”
During a joint press conference with Falcon and BC Conservative leader John Rustad, the two announced that after several hours of negotiation on Monday evening, BC United would withdraw from the race.
Falcon says that after talking with thousands of British Columbians on the campaign trail, it has become clear to him that BC United needs to step aside to avoid splitting the vote with the BC Conservatives and to give them a chance at beating the governing NDP.
“There’s nothing more important to me than not giving the NDP another day in power and that’s why I made the decision as leader of BC United to suspend our campaign and withdraw our candidates,” said Falcon.
Rustad thanked Falcon for making the decision to suspend his party’s campaign, reiterating the need to defeat the NDP in October.
It is being reported that some of BC United’s candidates will run for the BC Conservatives in the coming election. According to the Vancouver Sun BC United MLAs Ian Paton, Peter Milobar, Tom Shypitka will run for the BC Conservatives as well as candidate Jaime Stein.
The move comes as BC United has been bleeding support to the BC Conservatives over the past year, dropping from second place to the fourth most popular party in the race.
BC United, the former BC Liberal party, were a competitive party not too long ago, with a past in government from 2001-2017, and formed the official opposition after every subsequent election.
Last year, the BC Liberals changed their name to BC United to distance themselves from Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal party and to reflect the party being a free market oriented coalition between supporters of the federal liberals and conservatives.
However, conservatives have felt alienated from the party as conservative activist Aaron Gunn was disqualified from running for the BC Liberals’ leadership in 2021, and MLA John Rustad was booted from the party over his views on climate change.
“Kevin has shown real leadership. I think he has shown himself to really put the interests of the province first,” said Rustad.
“By doing this we are going to have the best opportunity possible to bring an end to these radical policies.”
During the press conference Falcon said he had the support of BC United’s executive and board of directors.
BC United’s withdrawal comes on the condition that the BC Conservatives accept some BC United’s MLAs and candidates and work together to improve the Conservatives’ candidate selection process.
The BC Conservatives said they will be undergoing a candidate review process in the coming weeks. There have been no confirmed candidate replacements as of yet
“One of the things that I appreciated in our meeting with John is that we talked about the importance of selecting and fielding the best possible group of candidates, and we’re both in agreement on that,” said Falcon.
“John acknowledged that their vetting process isn’t quite as rigorous as ours is, but there’s a commitment to working together to make sure that the BC Conservative party fields the possible candidates.”
Falcon and Rustad did not confirm which candidates will be joining the BC Conservatives, nor did they say how many BC United candidates are expected to switch over.
Falcon also said that BC United’s finances will be dealt with according to election laws and vendors, staff, and any outstanding expenses will be handled appropriately.
BC United, the former BC Liberal party, were a competitive party not too long ago, with a past in government from 2001-2017, and formed the official opposition after every subsequent election.
Last year, the BC Liberals changed their name to BC United to distance themselves from Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal party and to reflect the party being a free market-oriented coalition between supporters of the federal liberals and conservatives.
However, the party’s troubles began after conservative activist Aaron Gunn was disqualified from running for the BC Liberals’ leadership in 2021, and MLA John Rustad was booted from the party over his views on climate change soon after.
Since Rustad took the helm of the BC Conservatives, BC United has been losing support in their party, sinking to fourth place behind the BC Green party in some polls.
BC United ran on a moderate, centre-right and free enterprise platform, promising to exempt those earning $50,000 or less from paying income taxes, roll back drug decriminalization, improve public safety by hiring more police officers, and rolling back progressive reforms in the education system.
BC United’s departure from the provincial election paves the way for the BC Conservatives to run unopposed, potentially giving them the edge against the NDP.
338Canada’s polling aggregation places the BC NDP at 40%, the BC Conservatives at 38%, and BC United at 10%.
BC United did not respond to True North’s request for comment.
