BC Liberals ‘foot soldiers’ storm Penticton
With 800 convention delegates in Penticton, BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon is encouraged.
“My purpose is to make sure that we have a group of people attend,” Falcon said Friday on opening day of his party’s three-day convention. “These are the foot soldiers in the army that I’m going to build. I want them to leave the convention excited, motivated and aligned in the direction I’m trying to take our party.”
Falcon, who was elected leader on Feb. 22, fought a byelection in Vancouver-Quilchena winning with 59% of the vote April 30.
He said there was little time to prepare for the convention in Penticton and is pleased with the response.
The Liberals were originally committed to bring their convention back to Penticton — their first time since July 2017 when Christy Clark abruptly resigned as party leader — but the pandemic cancelled the in-person event.
“One of the things I committed to when I launched my campaign is to revitalize, reenergize and reboot … to assure that it becomes the big-tent party that’s diverse, appealing to women and young people, people across the spectrum, with diverse candidates united in the belief that a free-enterprise system is the best way to generate revenues for government in order to deliver quality healthcare and education,” Falcon said.
Falcon said his party is united and praised the other leadership candidates — Kelowna-Mission’s Renee Merrifield among them — for taking an active role within the party.
In an interview with the Okanagan Newspaper Group, Falcon wasted no time firing shots across the bow at the governing NDP.
“We need to hold the NDP accountable for the disastrous situation that we’re facing. Crime is spiralling out of control in almost every community. Health care is in a state that the premier has described as ‘teetering and crumbling.’ We’re dealing with affordability issues — the highest gas prices and housing prices in North America.”
The Okanagan Valley still remains somewhat of a BC Liberal stranglehold.
The Penticton riding, which includes Summerland and Peachland, has been held by BC Liberal Dan Ashton since 2013. The Liberals also hold three seats in the Kelowna area — Merrifield, Norm Letnick and Ben Stewart — but in the 2020 election lost their seats in both Boundary-Similkameen and Vernon Monashee to the NDP.
When asked what his party needs to do to win back power in the next election, Falcon rhymed off a short list.
“No. 1 is to demonstrate that the NDP is doing what they do best, and that’s not managing anything well. No. 2, we’re going to bring policies that speak to the vast majority of British Columbians. People, at the end of the day, don’t care about a political label, they want a leader who is competent, who offers pragmatic solutions and who is honest. People want candidates who are aware of the challenges British Columbians face every day.”
Among the hot topics at the convention will be a vote today on whether to take the first step in changing the party’s name to avoid confusion with the federal Liberal party.