B.C. United membership renewal drive offers front-row seats to internal recriminations

Vaughn Palmer: The bitterness left for many in United by Leader Kevin Falcon's sudden shutdown of the party campaign will linger for years

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Published Sep 19, 2024  •  4 minute read

Kevin Falcon, B.C. United leader. The full provincewide B.C. United campaign was suspended, although some ridings may still field candidates. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

VICTORIA — Some B.C. United members must have wondered if they were victims of a practical joke when they opened this month’s mail from party headquarters.

“Our records indicate that your membership in B.C. United will expire,” one of those missives read, in part. “Please take the time to renew your membership today.”

Seriously? The party that took itself out of the running for the election and withdrew its candidates in as ruthless a takedown as has been seen in B.C. politics — that party was now asking its members to renew?

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You can’t put up a United lawn sign because there aren’t any. You can’t run for the party. You can’t even vote for it, except in a tiny number of ridings where it will run placeholder candidates.

But this is your big chance to get in on the ground floor — or maybe the sub-basement — of the rebuilding effort, or at least the brutal recriminations, once the dust settles from this year’s election.

And such a deal too, as noted by CKNW host Jas Johal, who posted a copy of the membership renewal pitch on social media: “It is still only $10 for four years and it only takes a few minutes.”

But the shame could last a generation.

Then again, the membership letter could simply be the result of an automatic billing program, left running when the party brass left the building and went to ground.

This current letterhead lists John Yap as party president, a position he vacated last month.

That was not the only embarrassment for the party this week.

Monday, the all-party committee that manages legislature finances met to hear United’s plea for a top-up on the severance budget for its staffers at the legislature.

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The relevant portion of the committee meeting was held in private. The upshot was a motion that committed taxpayers (through the legislature budget) to cover any shortfall on severance costs.

Some two dozen staffers will be out of work come the election thanks to United’s decision to deep six itself. The severance payout has been estimated at $800,000 to $1 million, though some of it may be covered from money left over in the budget entitlement for the outgoing caucus.

The New Democrats supported the motion, not wanting to set a precedent for some future day when their staffers may need a severance payout.

NDP house leader Ravi Kahlon (who I mistakenly identified as deputy premier recently) couldn’t resist a shot at the authors of the deal between the United and B.C. Conservative parties.

“When John Rustad and Kevin Falcon were negotiating, no consideration was made by them about their workers, the people who are serving B.C., working for them in the legislature. If they can do that to people that work for them, what hope do workers across British Columbia have?” fumed Kahlon.

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“It is shameful that we’re even having this conversation. But we’re going to support this motion because we believe it doesn’t matter if the workers work for us or if they work for the Opposition or work for anybody. When people are ending their employment, they shouldn’t be left hanging to dry.”

Also circling the United party ruins this week was Herb Dhaliwal, a federal Liberal and former cabinet minister.

He launched a last-minute bid to start a “New Liberal Party of B.C.,” but found himself blocked by Elections B.C.

As Dhaliwal explained in a followup letter to United leader Falcon: “I am informed by the chief electoral officer, that, according to his interpretation of the Election Act, the registration and use on the ballot by another party of any version of the name “liberal” is restricted.

“This allegedly is because, after discontinuing calling your party B.C. Liberals since 2022, under the arcane rules applicable, you somehow still have control of the name Liberal.”

Hence Dhaliwal’s plea to Falcon: “I am writing to you today, fully cognizant of the time restriction and other political challenges, to strongly urge you, immediately to rescind your registration of the name Liberal.”

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Not a chance. When Falcon, a federal Conservative, launched the United party, he kept the rights to the Liberal name to preclude anyone from doing just what Dhaliwal is attempting.

Nor was Falcon likely to overlook how Dhaliwal’s agenda could serve the interests of the NDP. Though a federal Liberal, Dhaliwal is also tied to Moe Sihota, the former B.C. NDP cabinet minister and party president. He was best man at Sihota’s wedding and remains a close friend.

Still, Dhaliwal is right in detecting a lot of resentment among those Liberal-leaning Liberals who grudgingly supported the name change to United, only to see Falcon suffocate the infant party in its cradle.

The bitterness oozing from the Liberal-United takedown won’t be easily forgotten, whatever else happens in the election.

More likely, it is the kind of thing where people will remember where others stood a generation from now.

But as they suggest in United’s latest fundraising letter, for a mere $10 you can buy a ringside seat to all the action for the next four years.

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