EDITORIAL – The BC Conservative campaign has been way too long

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

IT WILL BE OVER soon. Thankfully.

It seems as though the campaign for leadership of the BC Conservatives has been going on forever. Actually, it officially began Feb. 15, the deadline for candidacy  applications. Voting begins on May 9. The winner will be announced May 30.

That’s 105 days, more than three times that of provincial election campaigns, twice as long as federal election campaigns, and about two and a half times as along as civic campaigns.

Good lord. Why does a political party need so long to decide who its leader will be?

Along the way, there have been various financial deadlines that candidates have to meet in order to stay in the race.

As of today, five candidates are hanging in there. Top contenders include our own Peter Milobar, and Caroline Elliott, a political scientist and media commentator. Milobar has the highest number of endorsements from sitting MLAs, but Elliott has been polling very well and has been endorsed by the National Post.

A poll released today shows Elliott well in front of Milobar but one must consider the fact it was commissioned by the Elliott campaign. Candidates who have been commissioning polls throughout the campaign seem miraculously to be found in the lead. (The other candidates are Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Iain Black and Yuri Fulmer.)

Maybe the average British Columbia hasn’t even noticed this campaign is going on. Maybe they haven’t paid attention to the daily barrage of news releases from candidates, or the many stories published by media outlets.

But if they have, they must be getting leadership campaign fatigue, and maybe feeling a little annoyed about it. One is tempted to ask the question: if it takes a political party this long to make a leadership decision, how long will it take to put policies in place?

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was 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.