Vaughn Palmer: Five B.C. Conservative candidates offer distinct choices for party voters

Conservative leadership candidates from left to right, Peter Milobar, Iain Black, Yuri Fulmer, Caroline Elliott and Kerry-Lynne Findlay . Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO /THE CANADIAN PRESS

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VICTORIA — After three debates, the candidates for the B.C. Conservative leadership have sorted themselves into five distinctive campaigns, each with its own identity, strengths, and weaknesses.

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Iain Black, the tax cutter. The former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister and ex-head of the Vancouver Board of Trade, says experience in government and business makes him the most ready to take office as premier.

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He promises “seismic change” on the fiscal front, starting with a 20 per cent cut in income taxes and phasing out the employer health tax.

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Critics say that means a $7-billion-plus hit on revenues to a budget already $13 billion in the red.

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Black notes that the Gordon Campbell B.C. Liberal government (where he served two terms) used a big tax cut to jump start economic recovery in 2001. Opponents say that government also brought in the carbon tax and the HST.

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Caroline Elliott, the anti-wokester. She makes much of being anti-DRIPA before it was politically safe to do so. She’d clean out the education curriculum, eliminating “activist fads” linked to gender identity and decolonization, while teaching pride in province and country.

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She also wants to scrap Clean B.C., citing a report that showed it was exacting a $110 billion hit on the economy over four years, twice the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

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The political staffer, policy analyst and pundit has taken hits of her own, for her lack of experience in elected office and for recruiting high-profile organizational talent from Ontario.

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Note that Gordon Campbell endorsed Elliott over Black, who served in his cabinet.

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Kerry-Lynne Findlay, the true blue Tory. The former federal cabinet minister and MP boasts the most endorsements from current and former Conservative MLAs and MPs. She reminds opponents that being party leader and premier “is not an entry level job.”

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On DRIPA, she cites her experience as a lawyer, leaseholder and spokesperson for the Musqueam Park Residents Association. She fought the Musqueam nation all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and won a split decision against its excessive rent hikes.

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Findlay is accused of mounting a political “purity test” against opponents with links to the federal and provincial Liberals. Yet she acknowledges supporting the B.C. Liberals when they were the vehicle of choice to defeat the NDP.

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Yuri Fulmer, the deal-maker. Business leader Fulmer says the other candidates talk big about uniting the right, but he’s the only one who has done anything about it.

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He cut a unique deal with OneBC Leader Dallas Brodie where she agreed not to run candidates in 88 of 93 provincial ridings and Fulmer agreed the Conservatives would leave five free for her party.