BC United says it will run a select number of candidates in the Oct. 19 election after suspending its province-wide campaign to support the B.C. Conservative Party.
The number of candidates and their names or ridings have not yet been announced.
The move is intended to ensure BC United remains a registered political party with Elections B.C., executive director Lindsay Cote said in a letter to members on Friday.
On Aug. 28, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon suspended the party’s campaign and released his candidates; many of them learned about the decision from the media.
The “gut-wrenching” decision was made to defeat the NDP and secure “a free-enterprise victory” in the provincial election, said Cote, adding the move did not “fold our party or erase our organization.”
By running some candidates, BC United will later be able to have a thorough discussion with its membership about the future of the party, she said. “If there is a desire within our membership to rebuild the party, and a plausible path to do so, we want to be in a position to act on this,” said Cote.
Vancouver Island University professor Michael MacKenzie, who holds the university’s Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership, called the latest move “incredible,” suggesting the party is already dead.
“On paper, it’s probably good for democracy that BC United hasn’t been completely dismantled” so there is a centre-right party to counterbalance a further-right party like the B.C. Conservatives, said MacKenzie. “I am just not confident at all that this is going to work.”
Running a few candidates may technically ensure BC United remains an organization, but in the minds of voters, it’s a “phantom” party, he said.
“Voters in B.C. rightly believe that the party’s now dead,” said Mackenzie.
Cote said Falcon, as leader, had the power under the party’s constitution to revoke the nominations of all candidates for the Oct. 19 election, and while he didn’t need the support of the provincial executive for the decision, he sought it and it was granted.
“We are now in the process of revoking these nominations with Elections B.C.,” said Cote.
The two parties agreed to pool candidates, with the Conservatives — who have 88 candidates listed on their website with a pledge to run a candidate in all 93 ridings — making the final decisions. (It has yet to nominate candidates in Esquimalt-Colwood, Kootenay Central, Vancouver-Hastings, Vancouver-South Granville and Vancouver-Strathcona.)
The B.C. Conservatives ended up choosing just three BC United MLAs — Ian Paton, Peter Milobar and Trevor Halford — out of 10, and four BC United candidates to run under the Conservative banner.
Former party colleagues Mike Bernier, Dan Davies and Tom Shypitka have put their names forward as Independents.
Ousted BC United candidates Wendy Yuan in Richmond Centre, Kevin Acton in Vernon-Lumby and Ashley Ramsay in Kelowna-Mission will also run as Independents.
The NDP has nominated 85 candidates, while as of last month, the B.C. Green Party had nominated 23 candidates.
MacKenzie said what Falcon did may be unprecedented and was definitely an assault on democracy.
“It’s perfectly legitimate for parties to unite, to merge, to do so strategically to prevent splitting the vote, but I’ve just never seen a leader fold a party at the beginning of an election campaign without telling his candidates, without telling his members, and essentially just give that organization away to a different party — it’s really remarkable,” he said.
“Falcon might have had the authority to do this, it looks like he did, but it doesn’t mean he should have done it.”
Given members and candidates were not consulted, “it’s just very difficult to see how or why those previously loyal members would want to put this party back together in the future,” MacKenzie said.
Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond was one of the MLAs left reeling by the leader’s suspension of the campaign and then not being offered a chance to run in her riding.
Bond was first elected as a B.C. Liberal in 2001, worked alongside Falcon for many years, served as deputy premier under Gordon Campbell, was minister of multiple ministries including education and health, and was B.C.’s first female attorney general while she was minister of justice.
She said she’s received hundreds of texts, calls, flowers and cards “that helped me get through some difficult days.”
She said she still has two weeks left as MLA for Prince George-Valemount — until the election is officially called Sept. 21.
“I intend to finish well, working hard, attending events and being present in the community and region that I love so very much,” she said in a social-media post.
Adam Wilson, BC United communications director, said in a statement that running some candidates will ensure the party name is available in future elections.
An Angus Reid poll after BC United suspended its campaign put the NDP and BC Conservatives in a statistical tie.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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