10 candidates in B.C. Conservative leadership race as Banman and Kooner join field

VICTORIA — B.C. Conservative MLAs Bruce Banman and Steve Kooner are joining the contest to lead the party, pushing the field of candidates into double digits.

Abbotsford-South MLA Banman says in an interview that the Conservatives would not have come close to winning government in 2024, if he had not shown leadership and courage to cross the floor and join John Rustad in the party.

Banman, who served as party whip, says he is running to revive pillars of the provincial economy such as mining, forestry, and agriculture, and so young people can build lives in B.C.

The race to replace Rustad, who stepped down in December, has featured extensive debate about which candidates are sufficiently conservative, but Banman, a former B.C. Liberal, says politics is about addition, not subtraction.

Banman says he isn’t interested in his fellow candidates’ past political donations or voting records, and the Conservatives need to gather as many people as possible to defeat the NDP.

Richmond-Queensborough MLA Kooner says he is running because he wants to end “economic decline, attacks on property rights and parental authority, and growing disorder” under Premier David Eby.

Kooner, who was elected in 2024 and serves as the opposition critic for attorney general, announced his candidacy in a social media post Tuesday.

Banman and Kooner join follow MLAs Peter Milobar and Sheldon Care, as well as entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer, former grocery executive Darrell Jones, former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, commentator Caroline Elliott, and contractor Warren Hamm in the race.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press