The BC United Party has revealed that their attempts to join forces in the upcoming election have been rejected by the Conservative Party of BC.
Kevin Falcon, leader of BC United released a statement on Friday, May 24th in which he announced that he and his party members had been holding meetings with the Conservatives to try to overcome the BC NDPs in October when British Columbians take to the polls.
“Over the course of these talks, our only objective was to minimize the risk of vote splitting by prioritizing the good of the province over any personal or political interests,” said Falcon.
He explained that despite the common ground between their two parties discovered at these meetings, John Rustad rejected the offer.
Falcon added he believes that Rustad is placing his own ambition above all else.
According to BC United, they never intended on merging their two parties in an effort to beat out the BC NDP.
Instead, they would have stuck to supporting one another through the election, not come after one another on their campaigns, not run candidates against each other in some ridings and formed a coalition government if the two parties won more seats than the New Democrats.
These terms were developed by the BC United Party who met with Conservative representatives, but they were not acceptable to Rustad, according to Falcon.
Falcon says they received no counter offer from Rustad or the Conservatives.
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However, contrary to what Falcon’s narrative is, the Conservatives put out a media release on X refuting the idea that Rustad and his party would join the BC United in this endeavour.
“Kevin Falcon declined our offers back in December 2023 to discuss a possible merger — with a simple message stating, and I quote, ‘F#ck off,’” Rustad wrote.
Rustad echoes Falcon’s claims of being power hungry, however he is pointing that sentiment towards the BC United Party’s leader.
“Kevin Falcon says publicly that he wants to put his ego aside, but privately, any discussions or ‘offers’ have been completely unserious and dishonest,” he said.
Rustad says he plans on having a candidate running against the BC NDP in all 93 electoral districts throughout British Columbia.
