B.C.’s new party led by Milobar gains 7th member as Donegal Wilson joins

The new party led by former B.C. Conservative legislator Peter Milobar has gained a seventh member.

Donegal Wilson, member of the legislature for Boundary-Similkameen, made the announcement on Monday after she said she spent the last week talking with residents of her riding in the southern Interior.

She said she did not plan to join the new party when she quit the Conservatives on Sept. 2 but found many areas of agreement with the other MLAs.

“When I left the BC Conservative caucus, I left because I could no longer support the leadership of Kerry-Lynne Findlay. I said then that I was leaving a caucus, not my principles, and that has not changed,” she said in a statement.

Wilson said both the governing NDP and B.C. Conservatives parties are largely focused on ideological issues, leaving many British Columbians politically homeless.

“As a fiscal conservative, I saw an opportunity to get in and help form the new party,” she said in an interview. “So, that is why I chose to go now.”

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The as-yet unnamed party was founded by Milobar and Ian Paton and has since been joined by other legislators who quit the Conservatives; Bruce Banman, A’a:liya Warbus, Rosalyn Bird and Teresa Wat.

They are among nine MLAs who have defected from the provincial Conservative caucus in recent weeks.

The new group plans to sit as a caucus when the B.C. legislature resumes sitting next month.

Two remaining former Conservative MLAs, Scott McInnis and Brennan Day, say they will sit as Independents.

Wilson said former and current Conservative caucus members will have to make their own decisions for their own reasons in choosing a direction.

“But I do think we are building something exciting, and hopefully, they will want to come and be part of it.”

Wilson said she’s not interested in rebuilding an old, failed party.

“The new party has made significant strides in a matter of weeks and I am so thrilled to join this team and help build a credible alternative to the NDP that British Columbians can choose in the next election, whenever that may be.”

Those who have quit the B.C. Conservatives have cited issues of leadership and the strategies of party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who was narrowly elected as the leader in May and faces a byelection to win a place in the legislature later this month.

Banman has said that Findlay is “unelectable” and levelled scathing criticism about the direction of the party under her leadership, calling out those around her for creating a “purity test” of whether legislators were “hard right enough.”

Findlay is scheduled to speak at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention on Thursday, while voters in Abbotsford-Mission will decide in a byelection on Sept. 26 whether she will have a seat in the legislature.