‘I just want to make this province better’: Conservative leadership hopeful visits Fort St. John on campaign tour

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Yuri Fulmer hopes to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of B.C., and has gone away from the Lower Mainland to make it happen.

Fulmer, an entrepreneur and chancellor of North Vancouver’s Capilano University, stopped in Fort St. John on his leadership campaign on Monday, January 12th.

During a media scrum at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference Centre, Fulmer spoke of what he feels are the major issues facing voters in the province: affordability, healthcare and crime.

“We need to make sure that the four or five issues we are really focused on are the things that British Columbians are asking us to go and fight for,” said Fulmer. “If we have got a laundry list of 100 issues, we’re going to find people having disagreements on the four or five issues that are important in this province.

“We know we’ve got an affordability crisis. People are worried that they don’t have title to the house they’ve worked hard to buy. We know the healthcare system is in crisis. We know these things. Let’s unify behind those and let’s fix them.”

Fulmer criticized the David Eby-led NDP government for an alleged “bloated administration” of healthcare, saying the emphasis needs to be on frontline healthcare workers.

“I was just in a room in Fort St. John where only one person in the room had a family doctor. That’s unacceptable,” said Fulmer. “Twenty per cent of British Columbians don’t have a family doctor. Unacceptable. Emergency rooms closed, unacceptable. We were on the island last week. Maternity wards are being temporarily closed, and that’s really unacceptable to me.”

Having moved from his native Australia in the early 1990s, Fulmer is a relative political debutante, having ran for the MLA seat in the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding in the 2024 provincial election, losing to Green Party of B.C. candidate Jeremy Valeriote.

Describing northeast B.C. as the “economic engine” of the province, Fulmer said his inexperience gives him an advantage.

“I’m definitely not a politician,” said Fulmer. “I have spent my career in business. This province has been good to me. I think I’ve worked hard. I think I’ve got a bunch of different experiences. I’m a dad, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a philanthropist. That’s the stuff I want to bring to B.C. I just want to make this province better.”

Fulmer has based the early part of his leadership campaign outside of the Lower Mainland. His stop in Fort St. John is one of seven stops on his tour.

He began the tour in Cranbrook and went to several towns on Vancouver Island.

“What people outside of Lower Mainland communities need to hear is that I started my tour outside the Lower Mainland,” said Fulmer. “That is the strongest message I can send the people that I care about votes outside the Lower Mainland, and I care about the interests of voters outside the Lower Mainland. So I know this is the economic engine of the province, and that’s 100 per cent why I’m here.”

Fulmer’s stop in Fort St. John will conclude with a meet-and-greet event for prospective voters on Monday night at the Fort St. John Curling Club beginning at 6 p.m.

To register for the event, visit the Fulmer campaign’s website.