Houston mayor Shane Brienen’s hope to become a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria would have been dashed had a deal between his party leader, Kevin Falcon of BC United, and BC Conservative leader John Rustad been successful.
That’s because Falcon said he would not run Brienen against Rustad who now represents the Nechako-Lakes provincial riding, which includes Houston, in this October’s provincial election.
It was one portion of a plan Falcon hoped Rustad would accept in a bid to defeat the current NDP government.
The broader portion of the plan would have had BC United and BC Conservatives not running candidates against each other for the other seats in the provincial legislature.
The expectation was that instead of two candidates running against an NDP candidate in each riding and risking a vote split to then give the NDP candidate the advantage, voters opposing the NDP would support just one opposition candidate.
Should BC United and BC Conservatives together win more seats than the NDP, they would then form a coalition government. The premier would be the leader of the party winning the most seats and the leader of the other party would become deputy premier and be given a senior cabinet posting.
But attempts at a deal fell apart May 24 with Rustad instead suggesting candidates from both parties running as BC Conservatives.
“In doing so, John Rustad placed his own ambition above the best interests of British Columbia,” Falcon said in a statement.
Rustad called Falcon’s approach “irrational” at a time when opinion polls place the BC Conservatives far ahead of BC United and very close to the NDP.
Speaking last week, Brienen said he was aware of the talks between his BC United party and the BC Conservatives and the prospect of an end to his candidacy.
“It definitely wasn’t a surprise,” said Brienen. “I was aware of it and not really worrying about it too much. That’s something they were trying to sort out.”
“I generally don’t worry about things out of my control. And you probably know that about me right now.”
With the prospect of a BC United-BC Conservaive coalition now gone, Brienen is focusing on the Oct. 19 provincial election.
“I know, for our riding, we’ve always suffered, it all industry through here, forestry, mining, agriculture, under an NDP government. That’s the way it goes and after a few terms [of an NDP government], that gets rough.”
Brienen was named by Falcon as the BC United candidate for Nechako-Lakes in Sept. 2023 who called him the best person to represent the riding.
“His relentless determination to deliver better outcomes for his region make him the ideal voice for the people of Nechako Lakes,” said Falcon.
Brienen was first elected to the District of Houston council in 2011 and in 2014 he was elected mayor. He was unopposed in repeating as mayor in both the 2018 and 2022 municipal elections.
Brienen will be up against John Rustad who is not only the BC Conservative leader but someone who has been successful in five provincial elections, the last being in 2020.
All five wins have been under the banner of the BC Liberal party but in 2022 he was ejected by party leader Kevin Falcon after suggesting carbon dioxide emissions do not contribute to climate change.
Rustad then became the BC Conservative leader in 2023. The BC Liberals changed their name to BC United in 2023.
