In the jostling to become the BC replacement for the stumbling NDP government, I wrote May 20, that there would be no merger between the BC Conservatives and BC United. My reasons were sound and sensible.However, to save face, Leader Kevin Falcon of the BCUnited has taken the gloves off and is now in a full-blown hissy fit. One wondered about what would be the next move by BCUnited when the polls for quite some time have shown that the BCUnited were seriously trailing a distant third place behind the NDP government and the BC Conservatives.Their recent “reasonable offer," is an inflated complicated cooperation formula proposed by the BCUnited which seems to be a late desperate ‘hail Mary pass’, coming from a position of weakness. They are doing what they can to salvage the sinking ship. It involves running a half-slate of candidates with a host of conditions.BCUnited said: “Today, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon shared a statement following the conclusion of discussions between official representatives of both BC United and the BC Conservatives. Despite proposing a fair and reasonable cooperation agreement to John Rustad’s BC Conservatives to secure a victory against the NDP, Rustad put his own personal ambitions before the best interests of British Columbians by rejecting any form of cooperation. BC United remains focused on the upcoming election, presenting credible and accomplished candidates who are ready to govern and offering a positive vision for the future of British Columbia.”The mistake was not about who had the gravitas to be the leader to oppose the NDP. It is about policy, going back many weeks and months. It was Kevin Falcon in August 2022, who booted John Rustad out of his party. In all the recent BCUnited press releases, there has been no climb down or apology to Rustad about policy disagreements to develop a single alternative the BC NDP. The story is that Falcon, for quite some time, has been harsh to the sensibilities of conservative-minded voter, and at times even rude and dismissive even just two weeks ago. The polling had changed but BCUnited stayed in denial. BC Conservatives leader Rustad has been consistent in saying that his reading of the political landscape was that the BC Conservatives have been more correct on policy as reflected in the polls over many weeks. The consensus developed weeks ago that the BC Conservatives were going to field a full slate of candidates, and alone challenge the NDP. That decision was confirmed long ago and was not going to change, as Conservatives are not about maneuvers, but are uncomplicated straight up honest and forward.The machinations at this late stage by BCUnited to engineer a complicated political maneuver appear to be a last-gasp stunt. They now claim that it is all BC Conservatives' fault for not going along with their late-stage political invention. BCUnited knew their scheme would never be accepted, but they played it anyway in an attempt to undermine the BC Conservative’s popularity. The deal was never on, and they now have piled on to characterize Rustad as the sour person who made a veto. However, BC voters would not approve of such kind of political angling and deal-making during an election. Both the BC Conservatives and BC United are working to replace the NDP. Policy differences were clarified by Falcon’s leadership positions, as his exclusion decisions led to the BC Conservatives gaining official party status in the BC Legislature in September 2023. Subsequently, policy statements magnified the differences between the two parties. When the voters looked at it, they chose the BC Conservatives in poll after poll. BCUntied was self-confident and made the mistake of destroying their traditional free enterprise coalition support.The BC Conservatives have been helped in public reputation by the popularity of the Federal Conservatives. Falcon has been associated with the unpopular PM Justin Trudeau. The two BC Conservative MLAs, along with the community membership, put together a platform that has proved more popular than the BCUnited positions. The recent expensive TV ad campaigns by BCUnited have not moved the political dial one bit.Now that BCUnited appears to be playing the victim-blaming game in earnest, they have slammed the door on the old coalition of the non-NDP voter. Each free enterprise party is now firmly on its own, seeking electoral favour on Saturday, October 19, 2024. I bet that the voters who cannot abide another NDP term in office will coalesce behind the BC Conservatives.
