Political winds of change are starting to blow and they are coming from the West.
Sources tell Global News that business leaders and political organizers have approached Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West about leading a potentially merged free-enterprise coalition party.
According to those sources, West is considering the option but it would require both current BC United Leader Kevin Falcon and Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad to step down from their respective parties.
“(West) has hitched his brand on being a little bit populist, a little bit common sense. He has cast himself as an alternative to the NDP,” UBC political scientist Gerald Baier said.
“He’s young, he’s photogenic, all the things that make a leader successful in provincial politics. He does not have a reputation of being strident one direction or another.”
Both Rustad and Falcon have acknowledged there have been preliminary talks about how BC United and the Conservative Party of BC could work together.
But no formal discussions have taken place on what an agreement would look like when it comes to political candidates, party fundraising and party organization.
An Abacus poll released on Tuesday suggested that 40 per cent of decided voters would cast a ballot for the BC NDP in the next election. The Conservatives are in second at 34 per cent and BC United is sitting in third at 13 per cent.
“The weakness of the BC United group right now is showing itself. And the ability for the BC Conservatives to take advantage of the federal party’s popularity has made this much closer to a two-way race,” Abacus pollster David Coletto said.
“There has been a re-alignment in B.C. politics. B.C. politics right now is very uncertain and fluid.”
Former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell has been asked to act as a go-between with BC United and the Conservative Party of BC to see whether any agreement is possible.
The fear from those hoping to defeat Eby is that having both Conservatives and United on the ballot will lead to vote splitting, and hand the NDP another majority government.
A poll by one of the people pushing West to consider provincial politics shows the Port Coquitlam mayor with a plus-27 favourability rating. According to the latest Abacus poll, Eby’s rating is a plus-13.
“A merger wouldn’t make BC United or whatever they would be called the winner automatically but it would make it more competitive and put a lot more heat on the NDP,” Baier said.
When asked broadly about merger talks on Tuesday, Falcon said his party is running 93 candidates in the next election. But he did acknowledge he would consider making some sort of deal if it meant defeating the BC NDP.
“What I care about is putting the interests of the province well ahead of my own interests and I will always do the right thing for free enterprise,” Falcon said.
“We have more in common than divides us, but we call all agree there must be a better government than the NDP for B.C.”