BC United caucus chair Lorne Doerkson defects to Conservatives

The caucus chair for the BC United party is defecting to the BC Conservatives, adding to the woes of the province’s official opposition.

Lorne Doerkson, who represents Cariboo-Chilcotin, and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad announced the move that increases the party’s numbers in the legislature to three.

The floor-crossing on Friday came after talks between the two right-of-centre parties broke down amid failure to settle on a deal to avoid vote splitting in the fall provincial election.

Doerkson said in a statement that he made the move from BC United because the election set for October is “simply too consequential” and his constituents want to see a Conservative government.

He said the BC Conservatives were the only party capable of defeating the current NDP government.

“I look forward to working with John Rustad and the Conservative team. Whether it is axing the carbon tax, revitalizing our resource sector or reforming our broken health-care system, it’s never been more clear that BC needs a common sense government,” he said.

Doerkson was first elected in 2020 and has served as BC United’s shadow minister for water, land and resource stewardship and rural development, and emergency management and climate readiness.

Rustad said in the statement that Doerkson would be a strong BC Conservative MLA for the riding.

“Lorne has been a tireless advocate for his region and the vital resources within it. Whether it’s natural resources or small business, Lorne is an individual who puts his constituents first and that is exactly the kind of advocate we need in the legislature,” he said.

Both Rustad and fellow BC Conservative Bruce Banman were previously members of BC United under the party’s former name, the BC Liberals.

The standings in the current 87-seat B.C. legislature are: 55 NDP, 25 BC United, three B.C. Greens, two B.C. Conservatives and two Independents.

The defection comes as the BC United struggle in the polls. Recent polling suggested BC United is currently at 12 per cent of the popular vote with less than five months before the election. Data from Angus Reid released Thursday suggest if an election were held today, the BC United would come in third place with 16 per cent of the votes. The poll puts the BC conservatives in second with 30 per cent support and the BC NDP in the lead at 41 per cent.

Recent polling suggested BC United is currently at 12 per cent of the popular vote with less than five months before the election.

A political scientist at UBC says he believes BC United MLAs in other ridings will also be facing pressure to change parties as we near a provincial election.

“If you continue to run third in a lot of those polls, it’s hard to convince or even motivate your supporters to get out and stay with the party,” said associate professor Gerald Baier.

“That’s really bad news for the BC United, especially if it’s somebody who has a relatively high profile, caucus chair …sinking ship metaphor seems to be appropriate there.”

Doerkson disagrees.

“I don’t know about the ‘sinking ship’ [metaphor],” he said.

“I don’t know that anybody else is coming over. For me this is a grassroots movement in Cariboo-Chilcotin.”

In a statement, the BC United says, “We’re disappointed to hear Doerkson has decided to join the BC Conservatives, which includes candidates who are anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, and COVID-19/United Nations conspiracy theorists. Lorne’s decision was driven by concern over polls and the desire to protect his government-funded pension, and he will need to defend that decision at the only poll that counts — on election day.”

The two right-of-centre parties have explored a deal to avoid vote-splitting but those talks recently failed.

“I was very hopeful that we would have seen a deal come together in the last couple of weeks or months,” Doerkson said.

“Once that came apart — and was clearly apart — I felt it necessary to do exactly as residents have made it very clear for me to do, and that was move to the Conservative Party.”

The next provincial election is set for October 19.

With files from Monika Gul.