EDITORIAL – Peter Milobar has to be considered frontrunner in leader’s race

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THERE’S A LONG WAY to go before the new leader of the Conservative Party of BC will be chosen but Peter Milobar has to be considered the frontrunner at the moment.

The leader won’t be decided until May 30. That’s much too long — everyone including the candidates will be tired of the campaign by then and, as they say in politics, anything can happen.

One of the reasons Milobar — the MLA for Kamloops Centre — leads the pack right now is that everyone else who wants the job thus far is uninspiring. Who’s ever heard of Caroline Elliott, Iain Black, Sheldon Clare, Yuri Fulmer or Warren Hamm? Black is the only one with much in the way of political credentials, a voice from the past when he served as an MLA from 2005 to 2011 in the days of Gordon Campbell.

There will be others to announce in the coming days, so it will be quite the horse race. Milobar’s resume will stack up well against any of them. When he was a Kamloops City councillor and then mayor,  he doubled as chair of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and chair of the regional hospital district as well.

As an MLA since 2017, he’s served as opposition House Leader, opposition critic for environment and climate change, indigenous relations and reconciliation, and finance. In other words, he’s battle tested.

In the heat of the Legislature, he’s been an effective speaker on issues of the day. Make no mistake, he’ll never win an award as Mr. Charisma (how many of us would?). When he was at the helm in City Hall, I nicknamed him Mayor Crankypants. In other words, he doesn’t inspire with his public skills.

His slogan for the leadership campaign is “Ready to lead B.C.” Not awe-inspiring; one of his municipal campaign slogans was an equally unoriginal “A Balanced Approach.”

But proof of leadership isn’t in campaign slogans. Milobar is articulate in his deliberate way, capable of clearly making a point. And, let’s face it, John Rustad was anything but charismatic either. What the Conservatives — and possibly the office of the Premier — will be getting is a smart, dependable leader.

Some will say his BC Liberal roots will be problematic and, certainly, the ease with which he jumped ship to a party he had so steadfastly criticized was disappointing. But there’s never been much to separate Liberals and Conservatives in British Columbia, and Conservative supporters will readily overlook history.

Having a party leader as MLA, and perhaps as premier, won’t guarantee anything for Kamloops but it won’t hurt, either. And having someone from the Interior fill the job will be refreshing after so many years of being dominated by the Lower Mainland.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.