(Image Credit: Global BC)

By Victor Kaisar

Provincial Politics

Kamloops MLA Milobar launches BC Conservative leadership campaign

Jan 16, 2026 | 11:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — Longtime Kamloops MLA Peter Milobar has officially entered the race to become leader of the BC Conservative Party.

Milobar launched his campaign outside the BC Legislature Friday (Jan. 16) morning, saying he’s focused on fighting for key issues facing British Columbians — the healthcare crisis, crime and public safety, and affordability.

“People are leaving this province because they cannot afford to stay,” Milobar said in a statement. “A generation has given up on ever buying a home. Communities are dealing with open drug use and repeat violent offenders, while our healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. That is a failure of leadership in Victoria.”

Milobar adds he’s committed to protecting property rights by repealing DRIPA and replacing it with a BC Reconciliation Act, which he said will support Indigenous communities by setting out a new framework to deliver “real reconciliation that includes all British Columbians.”

He is the sixth person to officially enter the BC Conservative leadership race after a caucus revolt led to John Rustad’s resignation last month. Former B.C. cabinet minister Iain Black and political commentator Caroline Elliott declared this week, with Prince George-North Cariboo MLA Sheldon Clare, entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer and Rossland contractor Warren Hamm also in the running.

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“A lot of people have asked me, ‘Why would I be considering this? It’s such a fractured party, there’s no way forward, it’s too divisive.’ The reality is much different,” Milobar added Friday.

“The reality that I have experienced in our caucus is a group of people working hard on behalf of British Columbians to try to move forward, be an effective opposition, be taken seriously and demonstrate very clearly that we are a government in waiting.”

Prior to begin elected as an MLA in 2017, Milobar served two terms as a Kamloops city councillor between 2002 and 2008 and three terms as mayor between 2008 and 2017. He’s the longest-serving mayor in Kamloops’ history.

Milobar is currently the BC Conservative’s Finance Critic, a role he also served as a member of the BC United (formerly BC Liberal) party. He has also served as the Opposition House Leader, the critic for Environment and Climate Change, as well as the critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.

“I know how to win in tight elections,” Milobar added during his campaign launch event. I wanted to be here, 75 feet away from the Premier’s Office, because that is the ultimate goal for the B.C. Conservatives — to unseat the NDP and become government and on that point, all B.C. Conservatives can agree.”

You can read more about Milobar’s campaign launch here.