NANAIMO: BC Conservative president Aisha Estey vowed to ensure grassroots engagement reigned supreme amid concerns over "centralized decision making" within the party.She made it clear that any perceived top-down moves were made not willingly, but only because there simply wasn't enough time or staff to do otherwise..BC Conservative AGM kicks off in Nanaimo."Now we have the resources and the time to properly set up all of our riding associations, and do proper nomination races in every single riding," Estey told the Western Standard at the BC Conservative annual general meeting on Saturday. "We didn't have resources until two months before the election essentially, and so it was very difficult with a very small group of staff to make sure that we were able to organize as many of those as possible, and we had very very few riding associations."She noted that while "the organizational structure wasn't there to properly facilitate the grassroots engagement," the party now has the staff and resources do to so. "We've already started," Estey added. "We're up to 60 riding associations established now — the Lower Mainland might be hard to get some of those set up — but since the election, we've been working on getting those going and running."During her speech earlier, Estey mentioned a training program that would help teach people "exactly what the processes are, exactly how to fundraise, and exactly how to engage members of the community.""What may have felt a bit more centralized decision making was largely because of how under-resourced we were and under-staffed we were," she explained. "There was only so much we could do, only so many races we could facilitate in a really short amount of time, and so now that we have all this time ahead of us, people will really appreciate and they'll be able to feel the engagement much more often, much earlier, and much more vigorous.".Ensuring the party promotes grassroots engagement was a central theme in leader John Rustad's opening remarks. His words were not accepted by all, however, namely former BC Conservative candidate Paul Ratchford."Ironic considering how top down the party has been run under John’s leadership," he wrote on X. "For example, candidate selection across BC was entirely top down by a handful of people."Meanwhile at the AGM, the crowd cheered when a delegate referred to Rustad as "the must grassroots person I know."Voting for the board has begun. Whether Estey retains her positions remains to be seen.
NANAIMO: BC Conservative president Aisha Estey vowed to ensure grassroots engagement reigned supreme amid concerns over "centralized decision making" within the party.She made it clear that any perceived top-down moves were made not willingly, but only because there simply wasn't enough time or staff to do otherwise..BC Conservative AGM kicks off in Nanaimo."Now we have the resources and the time to properly set up all of our riding associations, and do proper nomination races in every single riding," Estey told the Western Standard at the BC Conservative annual general meeting on Saturday. "We didn't have resources until two months before the election essentially, and so it was very difficult with a very small group of staff to make sure that we were able to organize as many of those as possible, and we had very very few riding associations."She noted that while "the organizational structure wasn't there to properly facilitate the grassroots engagement," the party now has the staff and resources do to so. "We've already started," Estey added. "We're up to 60 riding associations established now — the Lower Mainland might be hard to get some of those set up — but since the election, we've been working on getting those going and running."During her speech earlier, Estey mentioned a training program that would help teach people "exactly what the processes are, exactly how to fundraise, and exactly how to engage members of the community.""What may have felt a bit more centralized decision making was largely because of how under-resourced we were and under-staffed we were," she explained. "There was only so much we could do, only so many races we could facilitate in a really short amount of time, and so now that we have all this time ahead of us, people will really appreciate and they'll be able to feel the engagement much more often, much earlier, and much more vigorous.".Ensuring the party promotes grassroots engagement was a central theme in leader John Rustad's opening remarks. His words were not accepted by all, however, namely former BC Conservative candidate Paul Ratchford."Ironic considering how top down the party has been run under John’s leadership," he wrote on X. "For example, candidate selection across BC was entirely top down by a handful of people."Meanwhile at the AGM, the crowd cheered when a delegate referred to Rustad as "the must grassroots person I know."Voting for the board has begun. Whether Estey retains her positions remains to be seen.
