Westside-Kelowna MLA Ben Stewart says he was sitting in a finance meeting yesterday when news dropped on social media that his party B.C. United would be suspending its election campaign and throwing its support behind the B.C. Conservatives.
That meeting was switched to an emergency caucus call at 12:30 p.m.
“I found out the same as anyone else found out,” he said. “I have talked to a few people about this and they are shocked and probably still are.”
Stewart said he understands that B.C. United will withdraw its candidates to give Conservatives a chance to draw from incumbent MLAs and other B.C. United candidates, but for the more than 60 B.C. United candidates he knows they are wondering what is going on and what this will mean for them.
“I know they said they will pick the best candidates, meaning that there are going to be candidates who will step aside and that is unfortunate because a lot of them have been doing a lot of hard work for this election,” said Stewart.
And, while candidates might be in disarray, Stewart said it’s important to note that this move by B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon, "is probably the toughest thing he has to do in his life.”
Stewart has worked alongside Falcon in the opposition since 2022, but the Westside-Kelowna MLA has been an elected official for a lot longer. Stewart was elected MLA for Westside-Kelowna in 2009 and 2013. He was then elected MLA for Kelowna-West in 2018 and 2020. However, he recently announced he would not be running in the upcoming provincial election and would be retiring.
Despite stepping away from politics, Stewart says he was advocating for the B.C. United and B.C. Conservative parties to come together and make some solutions.
Since his retirement announcement, Stewart has been supporting West Kelowna-Peachland B.C. United candidate Stephen Johnston.
“As it happens, Stephen Johnston and I were down in Victoria together in early May, late April. And, Stephen had been thinking about what could we do to avoid this. So, he came up with a proposal and we met with Kevin on it. I think Kevin thought it was quite reasonable.”
However, Stewart wouldn’t explain what that proposal was but did say it was very different than suspending the campaign and supporting the Conservatives.
“This will change the campaign dramatically. We knew the challenges with splitting the vote and we didn’t want to split the vote, but it is a reality,” said Stewart.
He went on to say he strongly believes the only reason the B.C. Conservatives have any “oxygen” at all is because of the interest in what is happening federally with the Conservative Party of Canada, which he believes that has spilled over to the provincial Conservatives.
“They are not associated and B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has been clear on that but I don’t think the public is,” remarked Stewart.
When asked what he thinks is in store for the future of the B.C. United, Steward believes that has a lot to do with what will happen in the provincial election and if the B.C. Conservatives will get a majority government.
“It will be about how they perform and it’s about good policy," he said.
Since the news of the campaign suspension was made public rumours began circulating not 24 hours later that those not picked in the Okanagan by the B.C. Conservatives would be announcing their own new party, the Okanagan Alliance Party.
Stewart didn’t know anything about the possibility new party forming and instead advises candidates to sit tight and wait, because "It is still too early to know what is going to happen."
He says he heard that there are a few candidates from the Okanagan who have been identified as key players for the B.C. Conservatives when it comes to picking who will represent the party.
“It’s important to remember that if you do get elected to government you need to have some expertise because having everybody new is a bit of a problem,” he explained.
Stewart notes that the majority of B.C. Conservative candidates have no experience in policy-making, budget decisions or politics in general.
“I think the people who support us will find a way to vote for the candidate that they like and think is the right person. But we won’t know that for sure until Oct. 19,” he said.
