Intra-Party conflict may affect governing Liberal party.
by Bill Tieleman
Loyalty is a fine quality, but in excess it fills political graveyards.
– Neil Kinnock, ex-British Labour Party leader
The wild political shootout at the BC Conservative Party corral last weekend didn’t produce any fatalities, but it may have shaped the province’s political future by laying the groundwork for yet another party — or a BC Liberal leadership revolt.
On Friday, John Martin, the BC Conservatives’ Chilliwack-Hope byelection candidate who came third in March, surprisingly joined the BC Liberal Party he had trashed mercilessly just months before.
On Saturday, BC Conservative leader John Cummins got through an unwanted leadership review vote, winning 71.4 percent of membership ballots.
That led the party’s only MLA, John van Dongen, to bolt for the doors, leaving the BC Conservatives again with no presence in the BC Legislature. The veteran MLA and ex-solicitor-general quit the BC Liberals to join forces with Cummins in March.
The BC Conservatives’ only MLA, John van Dongen, bolted for the doors.
But beneath the drama, potentially yet more significant developments were taking place.
Sources in the BC Conservative Party told this reporter Sunday they believed van Dongen planned to replace Cummins as leader and then approach the BC Liberals with a plan to ditch Premier Christy Clark to create a new party under van Dongen.
Conservative sources said they believe van Dongen planned to approach the Liberals with a plan to ditch Premier Christy Clark and create a new party.
The Conservatives allege van Dongen held meetings with BC Liberal MLAs Donna Barnett (Cariboo-Chilcotin) and Moira Stilwell (Vancouver-Langara).
In an interview Sunday night, van Dongen didn’t confirm or deny holding discussions with the BC Liberal MLAs but did reject BC Conservative claims of forming another party.
“I’m not going to disclose individual private conversations,” van Dongen said. “I’d love to tell you about conversations I’ve had with Liberal MLAs but I’m not going to.”
“The Cummins group is convinced I’m going to start a third party — that’s news to me,” van Dongen says.
The Abbotsford-South MLA, who intends to sit as an independent, fired both barrels at Cummins.
“Cummins doesn’t care that 30 percent of his party is unhappy with him and he doesn’t even make them an overture,” van Dongen said. But Cummins now has clear control over the Conservatives and eight months to build a centre-right alternative to the BC Liberals.
Despite the infighting, the Conservatives polled 19 percent this month and the BC Liberals just 25 percent in an Angus Reid survey this month — and those are the numbers Cummins cares about most.
About Bill Tieleman
Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online) and in The Tyee — BC's award-winning online magazine.
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