Evan Saugstad: Thank you Jordan for defection from Conservatives

Being a politician is a tough job.  Just ask our Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy.  Elected as a B.C. Conservative on October 19, 2024, and after spending less than five months as a B.C. Conservative MLA, with 10 days experience in the Legislative Assembly of B.C., he has had enough and quit the B.C. Conservatives party.

Remember his year-end interview on Dec 30^th on this website? 

“Kealy says B.C. Conservatives party leader John Rustad played an essential role in him becoming MLA.

“[Rustad] was critical. He’s got the experience, he’s got the knowledge, he is a politician. To have a party leader in place that’s honest and genuine, that knows how to navigate those scenarios, that makes a big difference,” says Kealy.”

And then a couple months later, we get this?

“Some of the worst bullies sit in the legislature, and the B.C. Conservatives are no exception,” Kealy alleged. Kealy claimed he experienced “major abuse” in the Legislative Assembly of B.C. “I stood up for a fellow MLA who was harassed for speaking the truth, only to become a target myself,” Kealy wrote. 

He is now exploring creating a “new” party with two other disgruntled, short-term and now-ex B.C. Conservatives MLAs. There are also claims there could be up to 20 more who follow his lead.

“Kealy sketched out the positions of his new party.  “I think that when it comes to fiscal responsibility, getting rid of SOGI, figuring out appropriate way to deal with DRIPA, how to manage our resource industry, those are all concepts that will be looked at,” Kealy said, referring to sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum in schools, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.” 

How ironic that he wishes to rid government of “SOGI”, which was originally written to stop the bullying of youth in school settings, only to now claim he too was bullied and must do something about it and the reason he quit was to defend someone who was openly mocking and demeaning former residential school attendees as a right of free speech.

For the record, I never was a Kealy fan and did not support him or the B.C. Conservatives locally in the last election. I stayed with Dan Davies and supported him as an independent for a few reasons. One was that I did not think there was a chance of an NDP member being elected here by virtue of a vote split. Two, the new B.C. Conservatives needed experienced MLAs to help them with the transition to power (unfortunately, they didn’t accomplish that part). Three, I believe Jordan is about as suited to being a politician in a party system that must work together to accomplish anything as a single fence post is in keeping the cows home. Being a member of a functional team is as foreign to Kealy as it is to Donald. 

Remember David Barrett, BC’s first NDP Premier in 1972? I remember he once said that BC’s Social Credit Party could run a fence post and still beat the NDP. Social Credit was B.C. Conservatives, or right of centre party, of the day.

Well now we have what could be considered that proverbially lonely fence post.

Most, if not all I have talked to, think there is nothing good to come from these defections, but I differ.

Kealy and two others out of the B.C. Conservatives is a blessing in disguise.  Maybe not so much for Peace River North in the short term as Kealy struggles to not only learn what it is to become an effective MLA but also with finding any relevance in the B.C. legislature without the supports of a functional party.  He references his two years as an electoral director in the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) as being his political training grounds, but I believe his resignation to run provincially was the best thing that happened at the PRRD in 2024 and they are now functioning much better as a unit without him.

The power and effectiveness of Rustad and B.C.’s opposition party will be somewhat reduced with a reduction in members, but on the one issue that matters the most, I highly doubt that those departing Conservative members would not vote to keep Eby and the NDP in power during any non-confidence votes.  Only thing I would wonder is if these newly independent members will be enthusiastic enough to attend all legislature sessions and be there when a surprise vote could happen.

Here is the not just good news, but the great news.

I believe the B.C. Conservatives will be a much better party after the departure of those who are openly trying to sabotage the direction the B.C. Conservatives must take to win the next election.  I truly hope they all leave, as that makes it much easier to move the party to something that a majority of B.C. voters will support. 

The move to bring the Conservatives as a true alternative to the NDP can start here in the North Peace.

I hope Kealy will take some of his followers with him; those who believe anything goes under the banner of free speech, that overhead jets are a threat to our farmlands, that society will be better off without vaccines, etcetera, etcetera.  Then when the North Peace Conservatives begin the process of vetting and selecting a candidate for the next election, they can pick someone who is willing to go to Victoria and not only represent the people of the North Peace but also work with all other members of the party with a common goal of ridding B.C. of our NDP government and bringing us back to the prosperous province we once were.

There is now an opening during the next three-plus years for the B.C. Conservatives and former B.C. United parties to come to an agreement to run one party against the NDP.  I believe the sole reason the B.C. Conservatives are not in power today is due to those very MLA members who have either quit, been expelled or are soon-to-be goners.  They so threatened the centre spectrum of B.C. politics that many voters choose either to vote independent, hold their nose and vote NDP, or not vote at all, rather than elect a government whose questionable values were clearly not about making B.C. a better place for all.

This fall the B.C. Conservatives are required to hold another convention and with that, confirmation of leadership.  I would speculate that John Rustad will face significant challenges and they will be about bringing the centre-right voters together under one umbrella party, and who is best to lead that party.  The name may stay as B.C. Conservatives, but the direction will change with their biggest detractors now gone.

Thanks Jordan, you have made B.C.’s Conservatives and B.C.’s future look much brighter. And to those who say he must step down, I say you’re wrong.  A person is elected, not a party, and that is why it is so important to select a person that best represents the values of the riding.