Tuesday, Kevin Falcon blasted the B.C. Conservatives. Wednesday, he joined them

Vaughn Palmer: It remains to be seen if United voters will all line up with the B.C. Conservatives

Get the latest from Vaughn Palmer straight to your inbox

Published Aug 28, 2024  •  Last updated 2 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

B.C. United leader Kevin Falcon arrives at a press conference with B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad to announce a deal between the two parties on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

VICTORIA — One day after suggesting some B.C. Conservatives were unfit for public office, Kevin Falcon suspended his B.C. United campaign and urged supporters to line up behind John Rustad, the man he kicked out of caucus two years ago.

“I’m encouraging all free enterprise voters to come together and join me in helping to elect John Rustad and the Conservative Party,” Falcon said by press release Wednesday.

Article content

Tuesday, he’d blasted the Conservatives for nominating crackpots, like the candidate who linked cellphone towers to genocide and credit cards to the anti-Christ.

“In this day and age, we cannot have a situation where you have candidates running for office that believe that cellphone towers are genocidal weapons and that credit cards are a sign of the antichrist, and that we’re all heading for some kind of rapture,” Falcon told reporters.

“This is insanity. We have to have common-sense people that are bringing forward common-sense solutions to the challenges we face in British Columbia.”

But what a difference a day makes in the fractious, ever-changing B.C. political arena.

Tuesday night, Falcon cut a deal with Rustad that had him surrender the field, telling his rival (as he subsequently recounted to reporters): “I agree with 75 per cent of the things you do, but on your very worst day, you’ll be better than David Eby on his very best day.”

This was the same John Rustad that Falcon ousted from the then B.C. Liberal caucus in August 2022 in a bid to show who was boss.

READ MORE: B.C. United drops out of election race in deal with B.C. Conservatives

Article content

Article content

“Following a pattern of behaviour that was not supportive of our caucus team and the principles of mutual respect and trust, I have removed MLA John Rustad from the caucus effective immediately,” Falcon said at the time.

Two years later, their political fortunes have undergone a reversal. Indeed, it is hard to think of one this dramatic.

“I’m not doing this because it is in the best interest of myself or my party, frankly, but it is in the best interest of British Columbia,” said Falcon as he headed for the exit, driven by the same defeat-the-NDP goal that has governed previous upheavals on the centre right of the B.C. political spectrum.

“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,” said Falcon, conceding what many others have been saying for months.

Rustad thanked Falcon for (finally) doing the right thing and suggested some B.C. United incumbents and candidates might find a place in the ranks of the Conservatives — subject to negotiation.

The two parties tried to work out a deal last spring. But B.C. United offered one-sided terms that failed to recognize the surge in support for the Conservatives. The Conservatives, insulted, walked away without making a counter-offer.

Article content

Rustad will hold the upper hand in this round of talks, which had B.C. United MLAs, candidates and staffers fearing a freeze out.

Already there was speculation that veteran MLAs like Shirley Bond, Mike Bernier, Todd Stone and Jackie Tegart would be left stranded by the B.C. United shutdown.

As a reminder of the ruthlessness of what happened this week, I would just note that Stone bowed out of the 2021 B.C. Liberal leadership and endorsed — yes — Kevin Falcon. As for Bond, there are few members on either side of the house who are held in such high regard.

Falcon tried to put the best face on it, when sharing a news conference with Rustad in Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon. Promising party candidates and MLAs would get fair consideration in the coming talks.

Yet Falcon is a spent force. He will be remembered for what amounted to a reign of error: changing the party name, failing to fund a proper rebranding campaign, dumping Rustad, and ignoring all the signals from the opinion polls until he, Falcon, was pretty much the last person in B.C. to recognize that the game was up.

By contrast, Premier David Eby recognized some time ago that Rustad, not Falcon, was likely to be his main contender in this year’s election.

Article content

It was evident in the fall 2023 legislature session, when Eby began blasting the then two-member Conservative caucus in language that premiers rarely direct at fringe parties and also-rans.

He’s kept it up ever since. Before Rustad spoke Wednesday, the B.C. NDP’s formidable research department was out with a release chock full of Kevin Falcon’s quotes on the Conservatives.

With B.C. United leaving the field, the NDP won’t be able to count on as much vote splitting as they could have done with two parties contending for the centre right.

Eby’s best hope is that some of those who’d intended to vote B.C. United will be overcome by the same reservations about Conservative candidates that Falcon was expressing up to Tuesday of this week. They could stay home or even vote NDP.

Or they could vote Green, as some fed-up B.C. Liberals supporters did in 2017.

With less than two months to voting day, the situation is fluid. No bets at this time. Wait for the official campaign, starting next month.

[email protected] 

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   Site C hydro: Reservoir filling begins, but troubled project could still hit problems

2. 

   SkyTrain to Langley: Ottawa capped its contribution so the huge overrun is on B.C. taxpayers

3. 

   A re-elected Premier David Eby can be expected to continue spending spree

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content