New BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson has spent the first week of the campaign trying to introduce himself to voters as a likeable, reasonable, premier-in-waiting. He’s made strides to get out from under the cloud of craziness left by Kerry-Lynne Findlay. But the BC NDP have also been relentless in a barrage of attacks that portray the Conservatives as Donald Trump-loving yahoos, and Doerkson as a temporary figurehead who could be swapped out by the party’s radical base if it takes power.
Let’s dig into the three main points:
The Trump Issue
BC NDP leader David Eby has accused Doerkson of staying silent when some of his Conservative colleagues voted against a motion in the legislature in early 2025 that read:
“That this House condemns President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs as wrong and unjustified measures aimed at threatening Canadian sovereignty and endorses the nationally-coordinated “Team Canada” plan to respond with proportionate retaliatory action if necessary, including strategically targeting industries and regions such as products from Republican states, to maximize pressure to deter President Trump from implementing or continuing tariffs.”
Technically, it is true Doerkson was silent. He did vote with the NDP on Feb. 25, 2025 to condemn Trump, as did most Conservatives. But he did not publicly attack the Conservatives who voted against it: Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong, Heather Maas, Jordan Kealy or Brent Chapman.
Then again, no Conservatives spoke out publicly to criticize their colleagues. At the time, then leader John Rustad and then whip Bruce Banman both said it was a motion on which MLAs could vote their conscience and were free to express their opinion.
The motion was a clever trap by the NDP intended to expose divisions within the BC Conservatives. It worked. Now, 19 months and three Conservative party leaders later, Eby is using it to try to retroactively portray Doerkson as weak.
“If the leader of the Conservatives can’t even stand up to the MAGA Conservatives in his own party, how will he ever stand up to Donald Trump?” Eby said last week on the campaign trail in Burnaby.
Doerkson, who became interim leader 48 hours before Eby dropped the writ for an early campaign, has responded to questions about the Trump motion by saying he, his current party and its MLAs all now firmly oppose Trump and the tariffs. Four of the five MLAs are no longer Conservatives.
“At a time when B.C. and Canada are facing a bully in Donald Trump, an administration that wants to weaken us and break us, British Columbians are looking for a strong government,” Doerkson said Sept. 27.
“I think that Trump is a bully,” he added Sept. 29. “I think the NDP is out of lines.”
The NDP continue to push the issue, and Doerkson continues to deny it is relevant to the party he leads today.
The US Booze Issue
The NDP have attempted to cast Doerkson as against the removal of U.S. liquor from B.C. store shelves, and in favour of restocking those items to appease Trump.
“They believe that our best path is to put American liquor back on the shelf with no concessions to the Americans,” Eby said Sept. 22.
He called it part of “the chaos, the cuts, the cozying up to Trump of the Conservative caucus.”
“They believe that we should be acquiescing, and to their point of view, which I disagree profoundly with, not taking steps that could antagonize Donald Trump,” said Eby.
“I just fundamentally disagree with that.”
The source is Kamloops-North Thompson Conservative MLA Ward Stamer, who on July 21 went on CKNW radio and said a Conservative government would “absolutely” put U.S. liquor back on store shelves. Further, he said he suggested the idea personally to Pete Hoekstra, the US Ambassador to Canada, during a meeting July 13.
“That would be a measure of good faith and that’s what we suggested to the American counterparts a couple weeks ago,” Stamer told the radio station. “Unfortunately, we aren’t the government right now.”
The same day, the Conservatives, under Findlay as leader, put out a press release that contained a quote attributed to Maple Ridge East MLA Lawrence Mok further criticizing the policy.
“British Columbians are free to boycott American products,” said Mok. “But when government imposes a ban, it invites retaliation. We believe B.C. should be negotiating a reduction or elimination of tariffs on forest products in exchange for lifting the ban on American alcohol. That’s how you protect B.C. jobs and B.C. industry, not by clinging to a policy that was reactive and shortsighted from the start.”
Doerkson has repeatedly said, on four different occasions since the election started, that the party’s position with him as leader will be to maintain the U.S. booze ban.
”There will be no U.S. liquor on our shelves until this is resolved,” he said on CKNW Sept. 30.
“A conservative government will keep U.S. liquor off of our shelves until this trade conflict is resolved,” Doerkson said Sept. 29. “That doesn’t change with a change of government.”
Polling has shown the B.C. ban on American liquor is popular with the public. And it has clearly been an effective irritant against the United States as well, with the larger Canadian movement being decried by top Trump officials and the president himself.
The Conservatives have tried to get Doerkson out from under the alcohol comments that pre-dated his leadership by having him spearhead the promise of cutting the 10 per cent PST on Canadian alcohol at stores and restaurants during the trade war.
The policy is part affordability measure, part attempt to reset the narrative on the Conservatives booze issue with an offering that washes away the memory of previous statements by MLAs during Findlay’s tenure.
The Interim Leader Issue
Doerkson was named “interim” leader of the BC Conservative Party on Sept. 20, and two days later Eby called the snap election. Since then, the NDP have spent considerable effort suggesting Conservative party members could replace Doerkson after the election, thereby controlling who becomes the next premier of the province.
“They want a blank cheque about who actually their leader will be, and the signatory on that check will be the same party members that sent Kerry-Lynne Findlay in as leader,” Eby said Sept. 24.
“That’s just the reality. That’s not an attack line. That is just a fact.”
Not really, though.
There’s been nothing stopping party members in the BC NDP from overthrowing Eby at a convention and installing a new leader and premier either. That’s a feature, not a failure (though, maybe a flaw), in how political parties in British Columbia pick their leaders. For a party in power, selecting a new leader also means selecting a new premier.
The BC Conservative constitution calls for a “special leadership election” within 12 months of a leader resigning, like Findlay did Sept. 19. It also says any interim leader selected by the board cannot run for full leadership.
“They need to be clear to voters about who the premier would be in this election if they were to win,” said Nikki Sharma, who is attorney general but was speaking in her capacity as NDP candidate during a Sept. 25 press conference.
The Conservatives issued a statement saying the party would amend its constitution to keep Doerkson as leader if he wins. It also commissioned a legal opinion by lawyer Bruce Hallsor, who wrote that, technically, “nothing in the Party Constitution prevents the board from waiting a considerable period, even several years, before calling a leadership election, provided it is satisfied with the interim leader’s performance.”
“Despite the title, an interim leader is not necessarily temporary,” he wrote. “The interim leader serves at the pleasure of the Board.”
Doerkson has brushed the issue aside.
“This is pretty simple, if British Columbians choose me to be their premier, I’ll be their premier, and I’ll serve for as long as British Columbians allow me the privilege,” he said in a statement.
“David Eby is talking about our party because he doesn’t want to talk about his party’s record.”
The NDP attack is somewhat odd because it starts from the premise that Doerkson is going to win. And the only reason Doerkson is the “interim” leader is because the NDP chose to call a snap election to take advantage of that fact, rather than waiting for the next scheduled writ drop in two years, whereby the Conservatives would have already held a regular leadership race.
It’s also worth pointing out that New Democrats don’t have clean hands on this issue either. They disqualified climate activist Anjali Appadurai, David Eby’s only rival in the party’s 2022 leadership race, in part because of complaints by Eby’s campaign, after she appeared to be gathering momentum to mount a serious challenge against him to win the leadership and premiership herself.
The bottom line for voters on the three issues will depend on who they want to believe.
Yes, five Conservatives (four of whom have since left) voted to support Trump 19 months ago in a non-binding motion at the legislature two leaders before Doerkson was in charge, and yes, two Conservatives suggested returning U.S. alcohol to store shelves to appease Trump.
Neither were the official positions of the party then, nor are they now under Doerkson. But they do show poor judgement and a checkered past by the BC Conservatives. Meanwhile, Doerkson will still need to find effective ways to fight off the NDP attacks, which show no signs of abating.