Scandals and Divisions Define the BC Conservative Leadership Race

The Conservative Party of BC leadership race has crossed the threshold from merely damaging to potentially disastrous.

And one of the latest developments is also a warning that B.C.’s election laws are inadequate to protect voters from fraud and disinformation.

Leadership races are usually divisive. But this one has been marked by scandal, personal attacks and fundamental rifts, all more evidence that the B.C. Conservatives aren’t a real political party.

On Thursday, Elections BC found BC United had broken the law in the run-up to the 2024 vote with a sleazy and underhanded misinformation campaign aimed at driving down the Conservative Party of BC vote.

In August 2024 an attack website was created — ostensibly by disgruntled Conservatives — called firejohnrustad.ca. A mailer promoted the site and said Conservative Party of BC candidate Teresa Wat, who had defected from BC United, was guilty of offences under the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act.

Elections BC took an interest and quickly found the site and mailer had been created by Sovereign North Strategies Inc., a Calgary politics firm headed by Cameron Davies, who also leads the Republican Party of Alberta separatist organization.

And Sovereign North said BC United, specifically the campaign manager and the deputy manager, had paid for the effort and provided the content.

The now dormant BC United party first denied playing any role.

But as the evidence piled up, it became clear the BC United campaign was behind the dirty tricks.

And it was equally clear the current law isn’t enough to protect elections from blatant fraud and disinformation. BC United was fined $4,500. No individuals were even named in the Elections BC report. Everyone involved is free to do exactly the same thing in the next election, perhaps risking a slightly higher fine.

So what’s the Conservative Party of BC connection?

While Elections BC didn’t name anyone, the campaign manager for BC United at the time was Mark Werner, hired on July 10, 2024, as the party was being overtaken by the Conservatives in polls.

And Werner is now the campaign manager for Peter Milobar, one of the Conservative leadership front-runners.

Or he was until the weekend. On Thursday Milobar defended his campaign manager and said Werner denied knowing anything about the dirty tricks or disinformation.

Which was more than Werner told Elections BC, which noted his lack of co-operation. “EBC investigators reached out to the Campaign Manager through several methods of contact, but the Campaign Manager did not reply,” the agency reported.

On Saturday, Milobar announced Werner would be “stepping back from his role as campaign manager to focus on his family business.”

An unusual move, as only seven days remain for candidates to sign up new members who can vote in the contest, which is, theoretically, set to end with a new leader May 30.

Werner’s involvement was bad news for Milobar, a former Kamloops mayor and BC Liberal and BC United MLA. The Conservative leadership race is basically a battle of two camps. Many of the socially conservative, anti-Indigenous people drawn to the Conservatives view former BC Liberal and BC United members, such as Milobar, as enemies out to corrupt a populist party.

Caroline Elliott, another front-runner with strong BC Liberal ties, also felt the need to take to social media. Elliott assured readers she had resigned as BC United vice-president six months before the smear campaign and knew nothing about it. And reminded them she had been a key player with her brother-in-law Kevin Falcon in shutting down the BC United campaign to prevent an NDP triumph.

Those aren’t the only troubles for the leadership race.

Before he quit, Milobar’s campaign manager questioned the integrity of the contest and called for it to be delayed. The Milobar campaign later withdrew the complaint.

And the camps spent a great deal of time squabbling about a debate hosted by Juno News. Elliott and Milobar skipped it, and the remaining candidates — now down to former BC Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, former Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay and entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer — criticized them.

Juno News has the distinction of being denounced by both B.C. Premier David Eby and former Stephen Harper cabinet minister and Alberta premier Jason Kenney. Eby said he was “incredibly disappointed that the Conservatives have chosen to hold a debate with a far-right-wing news outlet that promotes white supremacy, white supremacist views.” Kenney attacked Juno News in February, when it gave a platform to a white nationalist. “Daniel Tyrie is a racist,” he posted on X. “Racism is immoral. It is poison. It is not ‘vitality.’ It is not conservative.”

And many in the party were rattled by Fulmer’s pledge to “unite the right” by forming an alliance with Dallas Brodie’s OneBC, a right-wing party focused on policies based on denying Indigenous rights and imposing a social conservative regime that strips people of their rights. OneBC — which has one member, who ran as a Conservative — would be partners in government and guaranteed the chance to run in five ridings without a Conservative opponent. (No matter what voters in those ridings want.)

The deadline for signing up members who can vote in the leadership contest is Saturday. The candidates will then battle to win over any undecided voters and, critically, ensure that they are the second or third choice of voters whose candidates are likely to be dropped in the early ballots.

The goal is consensus and a leader who can unite non-NDP voters. Given the divisions so far, that seems an unlikely outcome.