Findlay’s election creates opportunity for those in the middle

Lake now calls himself a political nomad with no true home, saying the NDP and Tories have left a large vacuum in the centre.

“There is dog-whistle politics – culture war – and that is not a good, healthy place to be able to govern from,” said former MLA Karin Kirkpatrick.

Looking to fill that void is the Centre BC party, currently under the interim leadership of Kirkpatrick.

“We are taking memberships from the NDP as well as from the Conservatives, former BC Liberals, federal Liberals who are really feeling quite homeless right now,” said Kirkpatrick. “We can draw voters from places the Conservatives can’t and the NDP can’t.”

“The chasm between the right and the left is even bigger now than it was before,” added Kirkpatrick.

Centre BC is flying toward an AGM of its own where members hope to elect a new leader to take the party forward.

Asked about Centre BC, independent MLA Elenore Sturko said nothing is off the table.

“This is a very complex time because there are a lot of factors that go into deciding whether or not a party should move forward in terms of a centre voice. But I think, in my case, I haven’t taken anything off the table,” said Sturko.

“I haven’t made any decisions about whether I would decide to join Centre BC and work with them or whether another party would emerge or maybe BC United would decide to come back. Those are all possibilities at this point. And it’s only been a couple days since Kerry-Lynne won and I think there were a lot of people always watching and waiting to see what happened with that race.”

Sturko stated the goal of a centrist party would be to reel in both the right and left.

“The centre party is able to temper that government and ensure legislation that potentially jeopardizes reproductive rights of women – or any other rights in the province – that those kinds of pieces of legislation can’t pass,” stated Sturko.

Sturko sat in the Conservative caucus before Rustad booted her out after she defended the trans community. Since then, she’s seen her former party drift further and further right.

“I’m even stronger in my convictions of wanting to serve all British Columbians regardless of their background and really sticking to the basics of governance and not interfering with personal decisions,” said Sturko. “I do think there is a space for that and I will continue to hold that even as an independent.”

If, in the months ahead, the NDP consider change from David Eby to a moderate, it may be a race to see who can establish themselves first as an option for the politically orphaned.

“I think if the Conservatives had selected a more moderate leader, that would have been a very good argument to keep the centre and centre-right together,” said Lake. “But by electing a leader further to the right, I mean ‘Family, Faith and Freedom’ – that’s your cry? That alienates a lot of people.”

“That either leaves an opportunity for the NDP, perhaps under a new leader, or it leaves an opportunity for a middle-of-the-road party.”

Missed opportunity with Milobar?

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar finished fifth in the leadership contest that saw Findlay assume the head job. Kirkpatrick believes a Milobar-run BC Conservatives may have put her Centre BC out of business.

“I believe he would have – he or Iain Black,” said Kirkpatrick. “Particularly, I think Peter was the most qualified in the race. I was in a caucus room with him and he was always very gracious. He listened to different ideas.”

“I have so much respect for Peter and I didn’t endorse anyone but he was certainly someone who I thought would have made an excellent leader for the party,” added Sturko. “He, as an individual, had that experience of working with people from a diverse background.”

Sturko raised further concern with Findlay potentially bringing independent MLAs back into the party, clarifying it won’t be her.

“Dealing with Tara Armstrong, I’m just going to put it out there,” said Sturko, “and some of the views that she has brought into the legislature… I called her out and raised a point of order when she used some language that is associated to the Nazis. And Jordan Kealy, he spent a lot of his Comox Treaty speech defending Tara Armstrong’s use of that type language when referring to Indigenous rights. And yet these are people who have endorsed Kerry-Lynne Findlay.”

by Michael Reeve

Findlay’s election creates opportunity for those in the middle

Missed opportunity with Milobar?

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