B.C. Conservatives unveil leadership race rules as Peter Milobar joins growing field

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Conservative Party has unveiled rules for its leadership race that include $115,000 in fees for contestants, who must sign a pledge to support the eventual winner set to be announced at the end of May.

The rules say voting under a preferential ballot system will be held from May 9 to May 30, while the deadline for nominations is Feb. 15.

Candidates will also have to pay a refundable $20,000 “compliance deposit” to cover fees if they break the rules, with penalties of up to $75,000 for each infraction.

The rules come amid expansion of the field of contenders in the race to replace John Rustad, who stepped down last month.

Peter Milobar, the party’s finance critic, becomes the third to throw his hat in the ring this week, saying on Friday that his candidacy is just the first step toward becoming premier while touting his electability.

Other fresh candidates include political commentator Caroline Elliott as well as Iain Black, a former minister in the BC Liberal government of Gordon Campbell.

They joined B.C. Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare, entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer and Rossland contractor Warren Hamm among the declared candidates.

Milobar, a former mayor of Kamloops, said Friday that he’s previously won eight elections at the municipal and provincial levels.

“I know how to win in tight elections,” he said during his campaign launch event.

Milobar visually underscored his ambition by announcing his candidacy just outside the legislative building that houses the Premier’s Office.

“I wanted to be here, 75 feet away from the Premier’s Office, because that is the ultimate goal for the B.C. Conservatives — to unseat the NDP and become government and on that point, all B.C. Conservatives can agree,” he said.

Milobar becomes the candidate to beat, at least according to his resume in elected politics. He has represented the Kamloops region in the B.C. legislature since 2017, after serving as mayor of the city for nine years.

University of British Columbia political science lecturer Stewart Prest said Milobar stood to own the centrist lane.

“He will appeal to those who wish to vote against the NDP, who are looking to vote for a right-of-centre option, but continue to grieve the loss of the BC Liberals and BC United as an option on the ballot.”

Prest said Milobar’s background in elected politics makes him a “formidable presence in the race, but also likely a polarizing one,” because more populist or social conservative leaning voters are likely to look at him with some skepticism and suspicion.

Milobar said during his announcement that for the party to win, it must grow, adding that British Columbians who vote for federal Liberals are welcome in its ranks.

“Their federal voting is not a concern of mine,” he said. “If they believe in the platform that we will be laying out … they’re welcome to join the B.C. Conservatives (and) their views will be listened to, just as every other end of the spectrum will be listened to.”

Prest said Milobar could make a strong case for being able to attract those types of voters.

“But the problem, of course, is that the party that he is aspiring to lead does not have that reputation, and I think many federal Liberal voters are going to continue to look at this B.C. Conservative Party with suspicion, given the populist baggage that comes with it.”

Milobar said the caucus is not as divided over social issues as it might appear and that caucus members may have differences of opinions, but not differences about “core fundamentals.”

He said those include having safe streets and the belief that you can get ahead by working hard, something that has become increasingly difficult in B.C.

“We might disagree on some of the final (policy) solutions, but the core principles, we actually do agree on, and I think throughout this race, you’re going to see that more and more people are starting to coalesce around and realize, that if we truly want the NDP to no longer be government, we need to focus on those big core issues.”

The rules unveiled on the party’s website, dated Jan. 14, do not appear to tolerate division once the race is settled.

In addition to a pledge to back the eventual winner, contestants must commit to publicly campaigning for the party in the next provincial election and “neither make, or permit their supporters to make, disparaging personal remarks concerning other leadership contestants,” the party, its employees or the board of directors.

The last provincial election in October 2024 took the B.C. Conservatives to the brink of power, with 44 members in the 93-seat legislature.

But in the year that followed, the party lost five MLAs to differences within their ranks, and Rustad was ultimately forced out by a caucus revolt.

Prest said the race so far has seen candidates focus on issues that will tend to unite Conservatives. “But under the hood, we of course have all these hugely divisive issues within conservatism in the province, and in Canada, more broadly.”

Prest said he expects the race to boil down to a champion from the more moderate wing of the party, and from the more populist wing, noting the public is still waiting on MLA Harman Bhangu to declare his candidacy.

Bhangu — who last year voted with a handful of ex-Conservatives in an unsuccessful bid to ban land acknowledgments by public officials — has said he wanted to see the rules before deciding whether to seek the leadership.

Milobar, who is married to an Indigenous person, opened his announcement by restating his support for the repeal of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

“David Eby needs to admit it is not working, and we need to restart the reconciliation process in a meaningful way,” Milobar said of the legislation, adding it has created economic uncertainty.

“It does not make one racist to say that they do not agree with (the legislation). It simply means we do not agree with this government’s direction on how they are trying to institute reconciliation.”

Milobar previously condemned comments by fellow party member Marina Sapozhnikov, who called Indigenous people “savages” during the 2024 election campaign. He also denounced residential school denialism on the floor of the legislature in February 2025.

Asked how members of his party might treat him because of his spouse’s background, Milobar said some, including Dallas Brodie, whose land acknowledgment bill failed at first reading, have already left the party.

Milobar said he had never made any secret about the Indigenous background of his wife and his children.

“They don’t shy away,” he said. “They’re proud of their First Nations heritage … but you know, it’s unfortunate that that’s where it jumps to. If that’s the best (Brodie has) got for why I shouldn’t be the leader of this party and the premier of this province, then I’m in pretty good shape in this race.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press