EDITORIAL – Milobar could be the undoing of the BC Conservatives

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SO, ANOTHER NEW PARTY for British Columbia. Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar and Delta MLA Ian Paton will form a new centre-right party. It will be, they say, an alternative to the BC Conservatives, the party both of them have abandoned.

Could this, in effect, be Milobar’s revenge against the party’s choice of Kerry-Lynne Findlay as its leader? That’s not to suggest Milobar sees it that way. No doubt he isn’t doing it in a fit of pique for his drubbing in the leadership race, but the effect could be the end of the Conservatives’ dream of forming the next government.

Currently, the NDP holds 48 seats in the Ledge, two more than opposition parties combined. Only 35 of those belong to the Conservatives. Every MLA who leaves the Conservatives further distances the party from success.

Today (Aug. 26, 2026), Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat quit the party. Yesterday, it was Valemount’s Rosalyn Bird. They may or may not team up with Milobar and Paton but it’s entirely possible Milobar’s as-yet-named new party could attract a half dozen MLAs away from the Conservatives. With CentreBC possibly in the mix in the next election, and 13 parties in all registered in the province, there will be plenty of choices for voters.

The new Milobar-Paton party can be expected to gain more of its support from former Conservative voters than from NDP sympathizers.

In the meantime, of course, the Conservatives continue to make trouble for themselves. Just today, Findlay fired the party’s director of operations Apollo Cheung without explanation. Other staff departures came before.

Milobar, however, is the centre of a major problem for the BC Conservatives. If the party fades rather than thrives, his decision to leave and start a party of his own could well be a big part of the reason.

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.