Five former B.C. Conservative MLAs form new provincial party

Five former British Columbia Conservative MLAs are joining forces to create a provincial party that does not yet have a name, but hopes to be ready when the legislature returns on Oct. 5.

Rosalyn Bird, Bruce Banman and Áʼa꞉líya Warbus said Friday they would join Peter Milobar and Ian Paton in the new group. They are among nine MLAs who have left the B.C. Conservative caucus in recent weeks under Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

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We need to form a serious, credible option for voters that are fed up with the NDP and can’t see themselves voting for the Conservative Party of B.C. moving forward.

Milobar, who is serving as interim leader, said the party is intended for voters who are unhappy with the governing NDP but do not see the B.C. Conservatives as an option. “We need to form a serious, credible option for voters that are fed up with the NDP and can’t see themselves voting for the Conservative Party of B.C. moving forward,” he told Global News.

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We are not doing this on a whim. We are doing this methodically and properly.

The group is working with Elections BC on the formation process and wants key details in place before the legislature resumes. It plans to hold an internal leadership vote and sit as an official third party. Milobar said he might seek the permanent leadership, but building the party comes first. “We are not doing this on a whim. We are doing this methodically and properly,” he said.

The party listed affordability, the economy, health care, taxation, resource development, and land and property rights among its priorities. Milobar said the former MLAs had received an encouraging response since leaving the caucus. “My inbox has been overflowing,” he said. The group will continue talking with other MLAs, though it did not say whether more members would join.

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My inbox has been overflowing.