ELECTION ’24 – Giesbrecht moves into vacant Vernon spot for Conservatives

For the past several weeks, Dennis Giesbrecht was the BC Conservative candidate in Kamloops-Centre. As of today (Sept. 3, 2024), he’s the BC Conservative candidate in Vernon-Lumby.

Giesbrecht told ArmchairMayor.ca today he’s excited at the prospect of running in the Okanagan riding and has no regrets about the change. It was also announced today that Peter Milobar will switch parties from BC United and run for the BC Conservatives in Kamloops Centre where Giesbrecht had been the nominee.

“It’s been quite the week,” Giesbrecht said, adding that “I trust John (Rustad) and his team.” He said he feels he can have “a bigger impact” in Vernon-Lumby and “the party wants me there.”

Issues in that riding are pretty much the same as they are in Kamloops, he said: healthcare, mental health, drugs, housing and affordability.

Most of the campaign committee in Vernon-Lumby is in place, Giesbrecht said, though the party hadn’t yet declared a candidate there.

He’ll have the former BC United candidate as opposition. Longtime Lumby mayor Kevin Acton, who was the party’s nominee until Falcon pulled the plug, announced today he’ll run as an independent. He said he would have run as a BC Conservative but wasn’t given the opportunity.

“While the party model of government has certain benefits, it also has a number of obvious flaws — including the ability of a party leader to remove previously vetted and duly elected candidates from participation as that party’s candidate, without consultation or agreement from local constituent or the declared candidate,” he told the Vernon Morning Star.

Also running will be the current Vernon-Monashee MLA, Harwinder Sandu of the NDP. Vernon-Monashee will be reconfigured as Vernon-Lumby effective for the October election.