The BC Liberals elected former cabinet minister Kevin Falcon as party leader on Saturday evening with a little help from the East Kootenay.
Once cabinet minister colleagues, former Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett was firmly in Falcon’s camp early in the leadership contest, lending support and campaigning on his behalf in the southern interior.
Bennett, who was elected as the riding’s BC Liberal Party representative over four elections from 2001-2017 before retiring from politics, said he had a small team of volunteers who helped campaign on Falcon’s behalf.
Bennett nodded to Falcon’s experience in politics as a cabinet minster holding various portfolios such as health, transportation and finance between 2001-2012.
Leading a political party — and the province as an elected leader — is a complex challenge, Bennett said.
“Most of us probably underestimate what it takes to be successful at it and when I look at the field of candidates and as much as I actually like all of them and respect all of them, there wasn’t anybody else there who has the depth of experience and the actual personal skills to do that big job,” Bennett said.
READ: Falcon heads to Victoria pledging BC Liberal rebuild, looks for seat in legislature
“So I’m really happy that he won and I think we will rebuild the party, we’ll rebrand it. The name will be changed and we’ll fight the election two and a half years from now with a very realistic chance of winning.”
Former party leader Andrew Wilkinson resigned following the 2020 provincial election, as the BC Liberals took a pounding at the polls, dropping from 43 to 28 seats, while the NDP cruised to a majority government.
On Monday, Wilkinson announced his intent to resign from his Vancouver-Quilchena riding, opening up the seat for Falcon to run in a byelection.
It’s Falcon’s first foray back into politics following a decade in the private sector, after losing his first bid for party leadership in 2011 against former premier Christy Clark.
Bennett noted that Falcon was willing to do “big things” during his time in cabinet, noting the construction of the Sea-To-Sky highway and the Canada Line skytrain ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
“He’s willing to do bold things, he’s willing to take chances, he’s willing to do things that are not always popular in the moment but which lead to success that the whole province will recognize and be pleased about,” Bennett said.
The latest leadership contest featured seven candidates, including three sitting MLAs in Ellis Ross, Michael Lee and Renee Merrifield, while Gavin Dew, Val Litwin, Stan Sipsos and Falcon stepped in from the outside to run.
Falcon won on the fifth round of balloting, securing 52.19 per cent of the vote, with Ellis Ross as runner-up at 33.65 per cent.
During his victory speech Saturday night, Falcon said he was encouraged by the mandate from party membership, pledging a “root-to-branch rebuild” and a return to big ideas.
“When I launched my campaign 10 months ago, I said I stood for principles-driven long-term solutions, not transactional short-term policy decisions, and that’s what you voted for tonight,” Falcon said.
Additional Kootenay-based support for Falcon came from Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok, who stepped down as caucus whip to endorse the new leader’s candidacy in December.
While current Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka had backed Ross for party leadership, he said it’s time to move forward and look ahead to the future. Shypitka added that he hosted Falcon in Cranbrook over the course of the leadership campaign and has had some one-on-one meetings in the last few days following the election results.
“He’s a good guy, he’s a family man, obviously has a lot of experience in the legislature and has got some good ideas and I’m willing to get on board and turn a new chapter with the B.C. Liberal Party,” Shypitka said.
“…I’m a team player, Kevin won, I think he brings a lot to the table, a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, I don’t think I have to argue with anybody that he’s the most shovel-ready candidate to step into this position,” Shypitka said. “But the focus was on renewal, refresh and rebranding ourselves, getting a different message perhaps out to the public on where we stand as a party and I trust that Kevin’s going to bring that to the table, so I’m all on board and I think most of the other MLAs are on board as well…so far the feeling’s been pretty positive.”
The NDP wasted no time going after Falcon, criticizing his record while in government on topics such as ICBC rates, MSP premiums and housing affordability in a news release issued Saturday night.
“Instead of renewing their party, the BC Liberals have turned back to old, out-of-touch ideas that don’t work for people,” said BC NDP MLA Niki Sharma, in a press release. “Kevin Falcon’s tax giveaways for the top one per cent would mean service cuts and higher costs for everyone else. His record shows that he’s in it for the wealthy and well-connected and would make life harder for the rest of us.”
trevor.crawley@cranbrooktownsman.com
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