“This is a pivotal moment in our history right now that the Premier is absolutely failing to lead on, and my worry is that things are going to get worse before they get worse.”
—Trevor Halford
Trevor Halford was born and bred in White Rock, B.C., the community he now represents in the legislature, along with a portion of Surrey. After five years as an MLA, the first four for the BC Liberal/BC United, and the last year with the reborn BC Conservative Party, Halford now finds himself in what started out as a very hot seat – interim Opposition leader.
In the two weeks since he stepped into the role, that seat has cooled significantly, he says. No small part because of him.
Known as a well-spoken, competent legislator, who can occasionally whip up his caucus bench with a flash of inspired oratory, he is also one of the clean up hitters in Question Period.
Projecting calm, Halford seems circumspect about the caucus and party divisions that plagued his predecessor, John Rustad. He shrugs off the acrimonious dysfunction that culminated in the caucus mutiny that propelled him into the interim leader’s office, and instead steers the conversation onward.
“Every caucus is going to have growing pains. My previous caucus had growing pains. I can guarantee you the NDP have a lot of growing pains, and credit to them that they’ve kept that in-house,” he said.
“Whether you’re an MLA, whether you’re a minister, a leader of the opposition or you’re premier… you’re not there forever. Somebody is going to come in after you. And somebody will be definitely coming in after me, hence the interim title.”
Podcast teaser: ‘I see an abdication of leadership’
Listen to a clip from the podcast.
The Interim leader has goals
Halford said he has two goals as interim leader: to stabilize caucus and the party, and hand the office off to the next person in better place than how he found it.
“That’s no shot at anybody that held it before me. It’s just an opportunity to really embrace that role.”
He enthuses about the talent in the Conservative caucus and says part of his job will be finding and unlocking people’s strengths. Time will tell if his caucus and party do the same for him.
Leadership race signals ‘exciting times’
As far as the leadership race goes, “it’s exciting times,” said Halford.
He’s looking forward to having a “front-row seat” to the Conservative leadership race and is anticipating high-quality candidates and lively debates enough to invigorate party members and BC voters.
“When you look at some of the names that are getting talked about, there’s no person where you’re saying, ‘It’s over,’ that this person’s going to take it. And I think that’s going to be a credit to how many people are interested in taking this job.”
Which would be a good thing, he says, because he believes the next Conservative leader will become premier of British Columbia.
‘This is an emergency’
The government is failing on many fronts – healthcare, education, housing, public safety – but the most urgent right now may be the uncertainty around Aboriginal title, private property rights and DRIPA, said Halford.
Premier David Eby can’t have it both ways, he said. The Conservatives have made it clear what they want to do – recall the legislature and repeal DRIPA. But the premier hasn’t given any explanation of what his potential amendments are or would do. Even if the BC NDP introduce amendments, the house won’t sit again until Feb 12.
“This is an emergency…. and my worry is that things are going to get worse before they get better.”
Podcast producer: Rob Shaw