The party needs fresh leadership

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In August 2022, with a lukewarm Guinness in hand, I brokered a quiet deal that would upend provincial politics in British Columbia. In a kitchy Irish pub in downtown Vancouver, I introduced newly independent MLA John Rustad to Conservative Party of B.C. executive director Angelo Isidorou, one of the principal architects behind the party’s rebranding and insurgent revival. 

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None of us knew it then, but that meeting sparked an enduring flame which would go on to reshape the right in B.C. 

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At the time, the political right in British Columbia was fractured. An aging, risk-averse B.C. Liberal establishment clung to relevance as a timid Official Opposition, while a small but energized Conservative Party of B.C. fought for legitimacy. That meeting bridged the gap and created something new: it gave the insurgent Conservative Party of B.C. a credible standard-bearer in B.C.’s legislature, and it gave John Rustad a movement willing to carry him forward. 

What followed was nothing short of extraordinary. 

In a matter of months, the Conservative Party of B.C. transformed from a marginal protest vehicle into a serious political force. Membership surged. Donations flowed. Bruce Banman’s floor crossing delivered official party status. For the first time in decades, British Columbia had a genuine, populist conservative........

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