Party members voted in favor of the resolution at a congress in Penticton on Saturday, welcoming new leader Kevin Falcon and trying to determine the party’s strategy for the upcoming election, which is scheduled for fall 2024. The resolution passed on Saturday will give all members of the BC Liberal Party the opportunity to vote on a new name or to keep the current one until the end of the year. “The name of the party must be that which reflects a diverse and inclusive coalition of big scenes,” Falcon said in a statement shortly after the vote of about 800 delegates. The BC Liberals are not affiliated with the Federal Liberal Party and have described themselves as a “free enterprise coalition built in BC”. Liberal Trevor Halford, who represents Surrey-White Rock in parliament, said about 75 percent of lawmakers voted in favor of the renaming process. The party said it would immediately launch a broader consultation process in the coming months before a vote on all party members takes place before the end of the year. Today the representatives of BC Liberal in We want to hear your news! Go to pic.twitter.com/DzrQDcHAAe – @ bcliberals The party has launched an online consultation portal for members to give their opinion. “This is a decision that will eventually be made by membership and we want to hear from everyone, so we encourage people to go online and tell us their thoughts,” Falcon said.
Delayed name change: former minister
Falcon, who won the leadership race earlier this year, promised to renew and rebuild the party in a “root-to-branch” process that included Saturday’s vote to begin a process that could see the Liberals run under a new name. Some lawmakers speaking from the 800-member assembly said there was a desire to consider a new name. Former cabinet minister Mary Polak said she believed the name change was overdue. “For many, many years there was a large group of members who wanted to see a name change,” he said. “Part of the way you express your identity as a party is through your name.” Great attendance for tonight’s Leader’s Dinner at pic. twitter.com/zHNPo4icwy – @ AndrewJReeve Polak, a former Langley four-term lawmaker with deep federal conservative roots, said she often had to explain to voters during the election that she was not a candidate for the Federal Liberals. “Sometimes I would knock on the door and the owner of the house would come out and say, ‘Mary, have you changed your faith?’ he said. “The time has come,” Polak said. “I do not think the name clearly identifies the party now.” BC electoral law prohibits the registration of a party with a name that has appeared on a ballot for the last 10 years. The Liberals were reduced to 28 seats in the county’s 87-seat legislature in the last election, but they are coming out of the spring legislature where they challenged the New Democrat government on health issues and plans to begin a major museum reconstruction project. “We see a government focusing on a multibillion-dollar museum when we have schools that have not been upgraded seismically. We have one in five people who can not find a family doctor, almost a million people,” he said. Halford.
“The next step is to become a government”
The Liberals’ recent political performance in the legislature, the new leader and the lifting of restrictions on COVID-19 to allow rallies have contributed to an atmosphere of family reunification in the assembly, he said. “We are focused on the next step and the next step is to become a government,” Halford said. “We have a very, very active group right now that has seen the huge cracks that appear in this NDP government.” Falcon is scheduled to speak at the conference on Sunday.
