Geoff Russ: Reconciliation politics driving B.C. Conservative race without apology

Candidates for the leadership of the B.C. Conservative party participate in a debate in Kelowna, B.C., on April 8. Photo by Juno News

Article content

In the B.C. Conservative leadership race, one candidate has managed to turn his campaign around by embracing the culture war he once scorned.

Article content

Back in February, B.C. Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer made the mistake of warning the party faithful to “zip it” on their “pet projects” and forget the culture wars, so the focus could remain on the cost of living.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The response to Fulmer’s statement was brutal. Federal Conservative MP Aaron Gunn, who’s never been afraid to tackle thorny issues, called Fulmer a “horrible candidate.” After launching a torpedo into his own campaign, Fulmer remarkably managed to repair most of the damage, if not all.

Article content

Article content

During the first, unsanctioned debate in the leadership race earlier this month, Fulmer pledged to fight the NDP on property rights, LGBT policy and Indigenous affairs, to great applause from the audience — and rightfully so. Polling in the leadership race suggests a tight race, but Fulmer’s momentum has recovered, and he should be considered a leading contender.

Article content

All in all, Fulmer’s February gaffe is ancient history. He has even made amends with Gunn.

Article content

The culture war, although dismissed by progressives (who are largely winning it), has been fundamental to the rise of the B.C. Conservatives. Without a doubt, pocketbook issues played an enormous role, too. But the party’s base is determined to carve out a place in B.C. politics that does not require adopting left-wing vocabulary and frameworks.

Article content

Article content

Politics is more than accounting. The arguments over belonging, education and the moral assumptions embodied by the state are deeply meaningful and powerful political issues. Land rights, land usage and Aboriginal title are the biggest issues in the province right now, and are all fronts in the culture war.

Article content

Article content

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) is arbitrarily reshaping British Columbia by turning over massive amounts of political and economic authority to First Nations governments that are unaccountable to the majority of non-Indigenous British Columbians. It was midwifed with terms like “reconciliation,” “decolonization” and “land back.” Pretending that DRIPA and this left-wing vocabulary are unrelated is flagrantly dishonest.

Article content

Other B.C. Conservative leadership candidates, like Iain Black and Caroline Elliott, have not shied away from the culture war, either.

Article content

Elliott has promised to not only scrap DRIPA, but to eliminate “land back” policies, stop using diversity, equity and inclusion in government hiring, take sexual orientation and gender identity out of the school system, put an end to land acknowledgements in public institutions and defend B.C. identity and history.