It was a surreal moment on a day full of such moments.
Trevor Halford walked into the main chamber of the British Columbia legislature on Dec. 3 as interim leader of his Conservative Party of B.C., following an appointment by the party board.
Hours earlier, 20 Conservative MLAs had released a letter in which they said that they had lost confidence in the leadership of John Rustad, following months of internal disputes that had dried up fundraising and diminished the party’s credibility.
The party board released a letter, saying that Rustad, had become “professionally incapacitated.”
But Rustad, who had won his leadership review with 71 per cent, refused to step aside, and minutes after Halford’s arrival, Rustad walked into the chamber to sit in the chair reserved for the leader of the official Opposition, as if nothing had happened.
B.C. Conservatives appeared to have two leaders: one appointed by the party with the majority of caucus behind him, the other, claiming support from the membership and parts of the caucus.
Three seats separated the two men who have known and worked with each other for years, as former B.C. Liberals. But neither acknowledged the other, as they were either typing on their phones, or rifling through papers. Neither spoke during Question Period.
When Halford was asked about that moment, he paused and asked to think about it.
“I tend to have an ability to tune things or push things out in the moment when you need to be focused, ” he said.
“Yeah, it was a different thing walking into the (chamber) under those circumstances, but I was more focused on what was going on with my colleagues, and how they were processing it, because it was incredibly difficult for them. That was first and foremost my concern, and maybe it was John’s.”
Halford called the 48 hours leading up to Rustad’s resignation on Dec. 4 “unprecedented,” and said the party is still trying to process what happened.
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“But we’re here now, and I think that’s the most important part,” Halford said in a year-end interview as the interim leader of the Opposition. “We’re moving forward. The party has had some of the best fundraising days that it’s ever had. We’ve got people joining the party.”
Halford acknowledged that the past political disputes have strained personal relationships within the caucus.
“It is not lost on me, the toll that can take on people, the process that went through here,” he said. “It’s not lost on me, what John went through. It’s not lost on me, what my colleagues went through, but we have a duty to British Columbians, to our constituents and to the province, to make sure that we are always putting them first.”
It was also Rustad’s rationale for resigning the day after the party’s two leaders had the awkward meeting in the house.
Rustad said he wanted to avoid a “civil war” within the party, which had won had 44 seats under his leadership little more than a year earlier and came within a whisker of forming government.
But Rustad’s tenure as leader has also revealed ideological divisions within caucus.
Halford said after Rustad’s resignation that “no caucus is perfect.”
“Every caucus has struggles,” he added during his year-end interview. “Sometimes, those play out publicly. Often times, they don’t. But for us, unfortunately, we had some stuff that played out publicly. I think that we’re beyond that, we’re unified, we’re getting stronger every single day.”
Halford has previously said that it will be up to the new leader to decide the party’s eventual relationship with the five former Conservative members of the legislature who were elected as Conservatives in October, but now sit as Independents, for various reasons.
His goal as the interim leader includes stabilizing the party inside the legislature, so it appears as a government-in-waiting, while holding the NDP government accountable, he said.
“David Eby and this government need to be held to account every single day, and I’m not going to let up, whether an interim leader or not.”
He said British Columbia currently faces multiple crises.
“It’s health care, it’s forestry, it’s extortion, it’s housing, it’s municipal jurisdictions — it’s all of this stuff that is culminating in British Columbia going backwards, not forwards.”
British Columbians should also concerned about the state of private property rights following the Cowichan Tribes case, Halford said in repeating demands that Eby recall the legislature to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
But Halford said Conservatives cannot be focused on a single issue — they must instead present a unified vision.
“I think that work is going to be really starting with this leadership race,” Halford said.
The list of would-be candidates is long, and includes current federal Conservative MP Conservative Aaron Gunn, former federal Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, former grocery executive Darrell Jones, entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer, former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, and current Conservative MLAs Peter Milobar and Harman Bhangu.
None have confirmed they are running for the job.
Halford said he is not worried about the caucus failing to get behind the eventual winner, amid questions about the party’s ideological coherence.
“I think whoever is victorious out of this leadership race will have that support,” Halford said.
He acknowledged that it can be a challenge to keep the so-called free enterprise coalition united, but also points to potential opportunities.
“I do not think in terms of left or right on the political spectrum,” he said. “I think about right and wrong. I also acknowledge the fact too that 99 per cent of British Columbians that are walking around today do not have a political card in their wallet.”
But he said residents can see what is happening.
“British Columbians are struggling right now, and they’re looking for something different, and I know that this leadership race is going to very, very clearly lay out what we stand for and in how we can actually stand with British Columbians in the next election,” Halford said.