EXCLUSIVE: Sitting down with BC Conservative leadership candidate Iain Black

VANCOUVER — With the Conservative Party of British Columbia poised to elect a new permanent leader on May 30, former cabinet minister Iain Black is campaigning as the experienced “day-one” candidate and a “turnaround guy” who can heal internal divisions and deliver a disciplined, winning alternative to nearly a decade of NDP government.Black, 58, announced his candidacy in January for the May 30 leadership vote, entering a crowded field that includes sitting MLAs and other prominent figures.In an extensive interview, he outlined a vision rooted in his decades of experience turning around troubled organizations — both in business and government — while rejecting divisive “purity tests” in favour of a common-sense, big-tent approach aimed at broadening the party’s appeal beyond its core base.“I’ve been CEO or president of six or seven different companies,” Black said. “They were all in significant trouble when I stepped in — the team wasn’t on the same page, the strategy was wrong, they were haemorrhaging money. That’s not a bad description of the province of British Columbia at the moment.”.Black’s political resume includes two terms as MLA for Port Moody–Westwood (later Port Moody-Coquitlam) from 2005 to 2011, during Gordon Campbell’s premiership. He served in cabinet as Minister of Labour and Citizens’ Services, Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development, and again as Labour Minister.He also played a key role in the 2010 Winter Olympics as part of the International Business Hosting Program. After leaving politics, he led the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (now Greater Vancouver Board of Trade) for eight years, revitalizing the organization, before returning to the tech sector.That blend of public and private sector leadership, he argues, is unique among the candidates.“I’m the only guy that’s done both — signing the front of a paycheque and signing the front of legislation,” he noted. “I understand how jobs are created, how investment is attracted, and how quickly poor government decisions can drive those opportunities away.”Black was generous in his assessment of outgoing leader John Rustad, who stepped down in late 2025 amid internal turmoil following the party’s strong but ultimately unsuccessful showing in the October 2024 provincial election. The Conservatives secured 44 seats — just short of the 47 needed for a majority — coming within roughly 1,100 votes across seven ridings of forming government.“History should be kind to John Rustad,” Black said. “He took an enormous political risk, proved to be correct on key issues, and got our team within 395 votes of forming government in some scenarios. That’s something right.”Yet the rapid rise of the rebranded party created challenges. Many of the 44 elected MLAs were political newcomers; only eight had prior legislative experience, and just two had served in government. The result, Black observed, was a caucus that faced immediate upheaval, leadership challenges beginning just months after the election, and a lack of settled rhythm..“It takes two years to learn the job of MLA,” he said. “Never mind being leader of a party or premier.” He likened opposition experience to being a knowledgeable season-ticket holder at a hockey game — knowing the players and plays — while government is “being on the ice,” with the premier acting as player-coach.A central theme of Black’s campaign is avoiding ideological litmus tests that he says distract from the practical work of winning elections and governing. In nearly 50 town halls across the province — often involving marathon question periods — he said no one has challenged whether he is a “real conservative.”“My lineage is very clear,” he noted, citing his long involvement in conservative causes, including chairing federal campaigns and serving on the federal Conservative Party’s National Economic Council alongside leading CEOs. “Nobody’s sizing me up.”He views purity tests as often coming from newer voices in the movement and as inherently subjective. What constitutes a “real conservative” can mean fierce advocacy for oil and gas development and tidewater access for one person, traditional social values for another, or aggressive deregulation for small business and mining for yet another. “I find it distracting,” he said. “The parameters are inconsistent, and it’s divisive.”Instead, Black advocates concentrating on a handful of core issues that transcend ideology: restoring affordability, fixing health care and education, addressing the mental health and addiction crisis with new approaches, and resolving Indigenous issues to unlock investment.British Columbia, he argues, has become “uninvestable” under the current NDP government, with capital flight exacerbated by policy uncertainty.“We’re not going to get out of these problems off the tax revenues of baristas from Starbucks,” he quipped. “We need great Western partnerships, resource development done right, and a government that says ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’ to opportunity.”In town halls, Black said attendees ask tough, practical questions rather than ideological gatekeeping.He is confident the average party member and voter will similarly prioritize results over "purity" litmus tests.

EXCLUSIVE: Sitting down with BC Conservative leadership candidate Iain Black

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