Right-of-centre B.C. political parties discussing unity ahead of potential snap election

With Findlay out and Doerkson in, the road to unity may actually still exist, with multiple former BC Conservative MLAs expected to return to caucus.

“We don’t have the luxury of time, and so two parallel things can happen at the same time – we can still be in full election readiness mode and, again, I’ve always said we need to unite [as much] of the right as possible,” added Milobar. “And you only do that by having conversations. But I was having conversations yesterday – before Kerry-Lynne Findlay left – about uniting as much of the right as possible and I’m going to continue to do that.”

“I honestly believe in the next 24-to-48 hours, we will have that opportunity to bring everybody back into the fold and be able to be under one tent,” said Kamloops-North Thompson BC Conservative MLA Ward Stamer. “Because… in the past it’s always been the NDP and everybody else – whether Socreds or Liberals or United and then we had the BC Conservative Party.”

Doerkson and Milobar have been caucus colleagues with the Liberals, United and Conservatives. Now, conversations will be had about again coming together.

“Those conversations are happening now. We’ve been encouraged by a number of our members, and certainly the business community to come together and we are having those conversations as we speak,” Doerkson told CFJC News. “Where they land, I’m not entirely certain. There are obviously some challenges and some obstacles.”

Earning back trust will not be easy for BC Conservatives who have endured repeated self-inflicted reputational wounds over the past several weeks.

“When these things started happening one after another after another, there was very little we could do about it,” said Stamer. “We tried to bring it to leadership’s attention. We told them what they were doing was wrong, was counterproductive. Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? We didn’t understand what they were trying to do. Then you start to get allegations and all these other kinds of things.”

Snap election readiness

Anticipation of a snap election call from Premier Eby has reached a fever pitch, with political insiders across the province all but predicting the writ will drop on Tuesday (Sept. 22).

By the time the writ potentially drops on Tuesday, Doerkson will have been leader of the BC Conservatives for less than 48 hours, thrust into the unenviable position of restoring voter trust in his fractured party.

“I can appreciate there have been some challenges but I’m going to do everything in my power to work through those challenges, unite this caucus and get back to what is very, very important to the people of British Columbia,” said Doerkson. “And I’d be terribly interested in seeing how David Eby is going to explain the things that have happened in this province under his watch for the last number of months.”

Over the past several months, MLAs fled the Tory caucus, citing concerns over conservative purity tests and societal issues. Doerkson is focused on moving past those challenges and bringing bigger issues to light.

“These purity tests, but I’m not interested in that right now. What I’m interested in is a very real possibility of an election and trust me when I say this – I get a very serious game face on. And I think these are the most serious hours, potentially, of my life and certainly the next number of hours are the most serious for this province. We are going to have to come together and change government in this province if we want to see change at all,” added Doerkson.

by Michael Reeve

Right-of-centre B.C. political parties discussing unity ahead of potential snap election

Snap election readiness

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