Wednesday January 14, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The Conservative Party of BC is beginning to see momentum of people stepping forward to take part in the party’s leadership race.
So far, the names on that list include people who are largely based in the Vancouver mainland area:
- Iain Black – Former BC Liberal MLA (Port Moody–Westwood / later Port Moody-Coquitlam, from 2005 to 2011). Career with IBM and banking solutions. Will be holding a press conference in Vancouver on Thursday morning, January 15.
- Caroline Elliott – A political commentator involved with the former BC Liberal Party and its successor, BC United, for about two decades. Sister-in-law to former BC Liberal/United leader Kevin Falcon. To help manage Elliott’s campaign, Kory Teneycke (a former campaign organizer for Ontario Premier Doug Ford and before that Stephen Harper) is relocating to Vancouver.
- Yuri Fulmer – Entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Vancouver. Chair of Fulmer & Company (investments across technology, manufacturing, and consumer goods); global chair of United Way Worldwide; and chancellor of Capilano University.
- Warren Hamm – Contractor based in Rossland, BC
Also heard to be possibly considering running for the leadership are: Harman Bhangu, MLA (Langley-Abbotsford); Peter Milobar, MLA (Kamloops Centre); and Darrell Jones, a former president of the Pattison Food Group.
Committee:
Last week the party announced that it has formed a committee tasked with overseeing the selection of its new leader.
The committee will set out the rules and processes for the leadership contest. Part of that is establishing the fees for candidates to pay in order to participate in the race.
The committee is chaired by Scott Lamb, a former president of the Conservative Party of Canada. Lamb is a lawyer who specializes in higher learning, intellectual property, infrastructure, construction & procurement, IT and privacy.
Other members of the committee include Aisha Estey, president of the BC Conservatives; Claire Rattee, MLA (Skeena); and Don Nightengale, returning officer for the federal Conservatives 2021 leadership race; and others.
Full list of the Leadership Election Organizing Committee:
- Chair: Scott Lamb — Lawyer and former CPC President
- Claire Rattee — MLA for Skeena and Caucus Representative
- Don Nightengale — Former National Councillor of the CPC and Returning Officer for the 2021 CPC Leadership race
- Allie Blades — Interim Chief of Staff to the Conservative Caucus
- Sharon White — Senior Lawyer and long time volunteer
- Gavin Marshall — Senior Employment and Labour Lawyer
- Aisha Estey — Lawyer and current President of the Conservative Party of BC
Non-voting participants:
- Chief Returning Officer: Sacha Peter — CPA and Board Director
- Angelo Isidorou — Executive Director of the Conservative Party of BC
- Bruce Hallsor — Legal Counsel — Non-voting
Current leadership:
The interim leader is Trevor Halford who is not running to be the next leader.
The leadership contest follows former leader John Rustad’s resignation after losing caucus confidence.
BC Conservatives:
The Conservative Party of BC emerged from the ashes of the BC United Party (formerly the BC Liberals) in August 2024 during the run-up to the fall 2024 provincial election.
While both stripes of the centre/right party are based on free enterprise, Rustad’s wide sweep of the business sector to find BC Conservative candidates ended up bringing some far-right viewpoints into the party.
Then-leader of the party, John Rustad, essentially collected as many candidates as he could — with political experience or otherwise — in an effort to build sheer force of the party in seeing a BC Conservative candidate running in every riding with the goal of ousting as many NDP incumbents or hopefuls as possible.
Rustad’s efforts essentially left NDP Premier David Eby with a razor-thin majority compared to the previous comfortable majority that was built by the late former Premier John Horgan.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: BC CONSERVATIVES | BC ELECTION 2028