Kevin Falcon elected as new party leader of the BC Liberals

Kevin Falcon delivering his BC Liberals party leader election victory speech on February 5, 2022. (BC Liberals)

After a months-long campaign period, for some candidates even stretching nearly a year, the BC Liberals have elected Kevin Falcon as their new party leader.

In the fifth ballot of voting, Falcon secured 4,541.35 points at 52.19%, followed by Ellis Ross with 2,928.33 points at 33.65%, and Michael Lee with 1,230.31 points at 14.14%.

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The party’s internal election was weighted, with each electoral district given equal weight in balloting. The first candidate to receive over 50% of the points was declared the winner. Voting in the first ballot began on Thursday, and concluded Saturday when Falcon was able to secure majority support.

Falcon also came out on top in the first four ballots, with 47% for the first ballot, 47.6% for the second ballot, 48.3% for the third ballot, and 49.63% for the fourth ballot.

“BC needs and deserves a government that believes a private sector-driven economy is the best way to generate revenue so that we can fund first-class public services, and that a combination of compassion and competence is the approach we need for some of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Falcon during his victory speech on Saturday evening.

“I will support the NDP when they make decisions that are good for British Columbia, I’ve done so in the past. But as I’ve watched them govern over the almost last five years, I’ve concluded that their fundamental weakness is not that they’re bad people, because I don’t believe they are, and it’s not that they don’t mean well because I believe they do, it’s just fundamentally they don’t know how to get big things done in the province of British Columbia. And that’s where we come in.”

Falcon was first elected as a MLA in 2001, representing the riding of Surrey-Cloverdale under the BC Liberals until 2013. He held the key roles of Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Minister of State for Deregulation, and Minister of Health in Gordon Campbell’s cabinet, as well as Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance in Christy Clark’s initial cabinet.

After Campbell’s departure, Falcon campaigned to become the new party leader, but narrowly lost to Clark in 2011.

After the October 2020 provincial election, which saw the BC NDP secure a majority government status, and the BC Liberals faltering with their worst provincial election result in decades, party leader Andrew Wilkinson resigned. Under Wilkinson’s leadership, the party was dogged by controversies just before and during the 2020 campaign trail.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this party can and will reemerge stronger than ever, but we have a lot of work to do. And that includes a root to rebuild that reenergizes existing members, while recruiting competent, diverse members and candidates. I’ve started on that work in this campaign, I’ve signed up thousands of new diverse members who are excited to be part of the BC Liberal family,” said Falcon.

“And let me just be really clear about one thing: I want to see British Columbians of all races, sexualities, genders, cultures, religions, and all economic backgrounds, know that they can join us and be proud BC Liberals, excited about our future, and happy to share the values that we share. After all, we have a lot that we can be proud of.”

Falcon replaces Shirley Bond, who has been the interim party leader since November 2020.

With the BC NDP holding a majority rule on government, the next provincial election is not expected to be held until October 2024 at the very latest. Falcon currently does not have a seat in government.

“We are going to connect with voters in every part of this province. We are going to win back seats we lost in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, and even on Vancouver Island, and we will take nothing for granted,” he continued.

“We will pull out all the stops, and we will make sure we earn the support of British Columbians.”

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