When BC United pulled the rug out from underneath her recently, Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes thought: I’ll have to quit.
The BC Conservatives didn’t come calling to recruit her, having already set their own candidate for the new riding of Prince George-North Cariboo. Her party had taken all her campaign money, voters lists and election resources down with it. There didn’t seem to be many other options.
The three-term MLA and cabinet minister began scheduling a press conference for Sept. 9, to announce she was ending her political career after 11 years.
“To be honest I was getting prepared to retire,” she said.
“As I was working through resolving my constituency files, and cleaning out my office to make sure everything was organized, it really put things into very clear perspective.
“The amount of files in the office just on healthcare, and the challenges [constituents] are feeling, that created a very strong sense of urgency for me and helped make the decision.”
Three days later, instead of retiring, Oakes announced a re-election bid as an independent.
‘We are all realistic’
“It almost feels like my first election,” she said in an interview shortly after her announcement.
“My first campaign, at 20 (for the federal reform nomination) was just because I felt so committed to the cause, to work hard and go out and meet people.”
Oakes is the latest in a series of displaced BC United MLAs to announce their independent bids.
Peace River North’s Dan Davies, Peace River South’s Mike Bernier and Tom Shypitka from Kootenay-Rockies are all running as independents, saying voters want a more moderate, experienced, sensible alternative to the BC Conservatives. West Vancouver-Capilano’s Karin Kirkpatrick is also mulling a possible independent bid.
“I think we are all realistic,” said Oakes. “We all know the realities of what we’re up against. But the chance to talk about the issues in the riding has got me really excited for this campaign.”
“We all know the realities of what we’re up against.”
Coralee Oakes
Instead of quitting, Oakes spent the week trying to resolve the most pressing constituents’ files before the writ is dropped and she has to stop work as an MLA because of Election BC rules.
Oakes highlighted the complex cases MLAs face from constituents, and the importance of both continuity and experience in helping them get resolved. That included delays for one constituent in getting an MRI needed after a car crash, the runaround a constituent got in the healthcare system after being issued the wrong medication, and the difficulty of another person with complex health needs in getting a primary care physician.
“If there was a way I could be comfortable knowing those files would be taken care of, in a strong transition process in government, that would have made the decision perhaps easier not to run,” she said. “That just didn’t happen.”
Successful campaign is about integrity, says Oakes
Oakes also said she heard from voters who want a more moderate candidate to support, rather than just a far-left New Democrat and a far-right Conservative.
“We’re a swing riding that goes back and forth every two elections it seems, and it’s moderate so you don’t see extremes either on the left or the right,” she said. “We have a very extreme right wing candidate running in this riding and I had some concerns about how voters would react to that.”
BC Conservative candidate Sheldon Clare was the national president of the Canadian National Firearms Association from 2010 to 2021, as well as the former president of the Prince George Rod and Gun Club. He currently serves as a history instructor at the College of New Caledonia.
As NFA president, he faced national criticism in 2021 for comments he made suggesting the country bring back the guillotine, a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a buy-back program for assault-style firearms. Clare has said he was telling a joke and refused to apologize.
He’s also made other controversial online comments, including that gun control leads to detention camps.
The BC NDP have yet to name a candidate for the riding.
Oakes said the experience of losing her party, having to start from scratch on fundraising and organizing, has given her a new perspective on the purpose of the race, outside of just winning and losing.
“You have to be prepared to lose,” she said. “I’m nervous, of course, and scared. Nobody wants to not be successful. But I think what success looks like for me is being full of integrity and duty and getting out and meeting as many people as possible and doing my best.”