Delta South MLA Ian Paton is to announce his political future within the next couple of days.
That’s what Paton had to say today (Aug. 29) following Wednesday’s surprising announcement by BC United leader Kevin Falcon on the pulling of the party from the upcoming provincial election, a move which Paton says caught the party’s current MLAs, candidates and party members completely off guard.
“I was really blindsided yesterday and we’re still in shock. It’s been a stressful 24 hours, that’s for sure. We just had our Beans & Jeans event at my farm on Sunday and it was a huge success and all our candidates came out. We had over 500 people, but there was no indication at all Kevin (Falcon) would pull the plug on the BC United Party. It was business as usual,” Paton told the Optimist.
Falcon announced a deal with BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad to not spilt the vote against the NDP, and that work was underway to select the best team of candidates.
“We’ve got really good, talented candidates who have been working hard, door knocking and spending money on advertising. It was a shock for them as well because, suddenly, they’re off the table as far as running,” said Paton.
Falcon at a news conference Wednesday would not answer which BC United MLAs or candidates already selected will now be left out, but Paton said he has been informed he’d be one of the three or four MLAs welcome to run with them.
“Things are still up in the air, but I have been approached many times over the last year by the BC Conservatives who said they would love it if I moved over, but I said no, based on my morals and integrity and I’m sticking with my team, because I believe in Kevin Falcon and I believe in my team, and we have excellent candidates, way more talented candidates,” said Paton.
“But I had a lot of people also tell me, ‘Ian, we can’t split the vote. The best thing you can do is go to the BC Cons (Conservatives) because they are way further ahead in the polls than we are.’ I still didn’t do that until yesterday morning,” he added.
Paton said he has much to consider and will have to discuss the situation with his constituency and family.
Noting he has had a good relationship with Rustad in the past, Paton said his options include agreeing to run for the Conservatives, running as an independent or retiring.
In the 2020 election, the NDP won a 55-seat majority with the Liberals, who would later change their name to BC United, winning just 29 seats, and the Greens winning three.
Paton won Delta South for the Liberals with 52.42 per cent of the popular vote, his second provincial election victory in the riding.
