A major shift in the B.C. political landscape has been unfolding over the course of the day Wednesday.
After unconfirmed reports emerged in the morning that B.C. United would discontinue its election campaign and some candidates could run under the B.C. Conservative banner, the B.C. Conservative Party confirmed the news in a statement around 2pm.. They said BC United Leader Kevin Falcon was suspending his party’s campaign and that Falcon is “encouraging all BC United supporters to unite behind John Rustad and the Conservative Party of BC to prevent another four years of disastrous NDP government.”
“I know that the best thing for the future of our province is to defeat the NDP, but we cannot do that when the centre-right vote is split,” says Falcon.
According to the B.C. Conservatives, nominations of BC United candidates will be withdrawn but the Conservatives may bring some of those candidates under their banner.
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad held a joint news conference to announce the move, which they stressed was being made to prevent potential vote-splitting on the right.
Falcon said the decision was difficult and drew the ire of some in his caucus, but also described it repeatedly as the right thing to do.