Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad hails the recruitment of former NDP MLA Gwen O’Mahony as evidence of building a “big-tent” party.
O’Mahony, who was the MLA for Chilliwack-Hope for just over year between April 2012 to April 2013, will be running in the newly created riding of Nanaimo-Lantzville.
“Most of you know me as the first New Democrat elected in that riding (Chilliwack-Hope), but today, I’m here to tell you that things have changed in this province,” she said. “The world has changed, the B.C. NDP has changed.”
She also ran federally for the NDP in 2011, finishing second in Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon.
O’Mahony who resigned her NDP membership yesterday, cited her former party’s position on decriminalization as one of her motivating factors. O’Mahony, who moderated a meeting of trans-exclusionary radical feminism activists in Nanaimo in the fall of 2023, also cited B.C.’s SOGI-123 policy.
“I’m very concerned about parents and…keeping them informed,” she said. “(I) have looked at some of the literature coming through the SOGI program and I was shocked at what I saw. My girls are grown up now, so they are not in the public system. But I certainly have some nephews that are going through the system right now.”
Rustad introduced O’Mahony as a candidate first to the media, then to the rest of the legislature during the public introduction portion of Wednesday’s session. He said his party is not about being conservative or liberal or NDP or Green.
“It’s about standing up and fighting for the average everyday person in this province and just standing up for what’s right,” he said. “We have been tracking people from across the political spectrum to be part of our party.”
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“Like any family, I’m sure there will be differences,” Rustad said. “There’ll be issues that come up. But that’s what leadership is about — bringing people together for a common vision that we need to be implementing in the province of British Columbia for the improvement of the lives of people in this great province.”
Exactly a week ago, the party’s recruitment efforts also made news when it announced Dr. Stephen Malthouse as candidate for the Ladysmith-Oceanside riding, only to drop him hours later. Jan Webb had been dropped from the party’s roster earlier in March.
“We shared those same values,” Rustad said, when asked about those candidates. “That’s why I was very happy to have them come stepped forward and then run for us. Unfortunately, some other issues came up, which were not aligned with where we want to be as (party), which is why they are no longer candidates.”
Rustad declined to elaborate about those issues. He acknowledged the party’s vetting process “missed” a “couple of things” but added that is to “be expected” in party that is growing so rapidly. He added that the party has since strengthened its nomination process and promised it will field a full slate of 93 candidates with 57 already recruited.
He said workers and former NDP voters like O’Mahony are abandoning the NDP because they can’t afford life in British Columbia.
B.C. NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon, says she has fallen into a “trap” of extremist and conspiratorial views.
“First, I haven’t talked to Gwen in over ten years now,” Kahlon said. “I certainly know that like many coming out of the pandemic, seeing things on social media and falling into that trap of seeing, supporting Freedom Convoy, thinking about conspiracies, all of a sudden becoming super anti-trans….What’s clear is that she’s now found a home with people who believe the same thing. That’s what she sees in the leader of the Conservative Party, that same extreme view. So I wish her well.”