Peter Milobar, the incumbent Kamloops Centre candidate whose leadership of the upstart CentreBC party lasted less than a week, says his decision to rejoin the B.C. Conservative Party was made during a series of late-night talks over the weekend. Milobar and six other former Conservative legislators announced their return to the party Tuesday after B.C. NDP Leader David Eby called a snap election for Oct. 24. The rapid sequence followed weeks of Conservative turmoil culminating in lengthy discussions triggered by the resignation of former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay. “I was out of the B.C. Conservative caucus for about as long as this general election is going to be now, and so there was a lot of fast-moving parts throughout the weekend,” Milobar told CTV News on Wednesday, reflecting on his discussions with Lorne Doerkson, the newly appointed interim Conservative leader. “Lorne Doerkson and myself had long talks throughout the evening and into the next morning, and ultimately myself and the other six MLAs that had left the B.C. Conservatives over that span all decided that we would go back,” he said. Milobar made no secret about what drove the sudden caucus reconciliation. “Kerry-Lynne Findlay is no longer the leader,” he said. “If you look back to the statements all seven of us made, it all revolved around Kerry-Lynne Findlay, her leadership, the team of people she was hiring and bringing in.” With Findlay out of the picture, Milobar said Eby is going to regret calling a snap election just two years into his government’s mandate. “The NDP don’t know why they called this election, other than they wanted to run against Kerry-Lynne Findlay,” Milobar said. “She’s not on the ballot. She’s not our leader, and they’re struggling to justify to British Columbians why we are having this unnecessary election.” Eby on Tuesday framed his election call as a necessary measure to respond to threats posed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The NDP leader told reporters the province is at an “existential moment” and accused the Conservatives of siding with Trump in his threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty. Milobar said he has no plans to take control of the Conservative party after Doerksen’s interim leadership, saying his focus is on growing the party membership. “If Lorne wins this election, and I fully expect him to, in my opinion he’s the premier,” Milobar said. “I don’t know how you would go back to the party membership and say,’ well, the man just won an election that our party hasn’t been able to do in over 100 years in British Columbia, maybe we should open the door up for everyone else to throw their hat in the ring.’”
