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Provincial Politics

MLA Milobar to run for BC Conservatives in Kamloops Centre

Sep 3, 2024 | 3:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — Veteran MLA Peter Milobar has announced he will run for the Conservative Party of B.C. in the October provincial election. Milobar made the announcement with family members by his side Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 3).

Milobar will run in Kamloops Centre, where he had initially intended to run for the BC United party.

But United Leader Kevin Falcon announced the decision to suspend the party’s election campaign last week, urging supporters to consider voting for the BC Conservatives under leader John Rustad.

“My hope is, especially in the Kamloops-Centre case, that over the next seven weeks that they will find comfort in the fact that I have the experience I do, that I have a very long track record. I’m not trying to hide from any of the things I’ve said in the past becurse I haven’t changed my views on a lot of that,” said Milobar. “People can take comfort in what they are voting for in me personally is what I have stood for for all the years I’ve been elected be it at the city council level, the mayor level or as an MLA.”

Milobar was first elected to the provincial legislature in 2017 and re-elected in 2020, both times in Kamloops-North Thompson.

The Conservatives first nominated Dennis Giesbrecht to run in Kamloops Centre. As of Tuesday, Giesbrecht is now listed as the candidate for Vernon-Lumby on the party’s website.

In the past Milobar has had issue with a number of John Rustad’s stances on things like the environment, SOGI, and UNDRIP. The veteran MLA stated his opinions on those matters will not be changing.

“Yes we are going to have differences of opinion on that. But I have a lot of differences of opinions with the NDP as well, as well as the Green Party. So the reality is if I wanted to continue to fight for this community and advocate the way I have over my political career, where did I feel it was the best fit and still having some of those difference but still feeling like you would have a significant voice at the table to bring forward my own perspective on things as well.”

In addition to Milobar, BC United MLAs Ian Paton and Trevor Halford were also introduced as Conservative candidates Tuesday.

More to come.