April 14, 2026
Peter Milobar won’t parachute candidates into ridings for the next provincial election, should he be elected leader of the provincial Conservative party.
Milobar, MLA for Kamloops Centre, stopped at Vernon’s Elks Hall Friday morning, April 10, to meet with about 25 folks gathered to hear him talk.
The question about dropping in candidates from other areas into local ridings came from the floor. It was in reference to 2024 when the B.C. Conservatives parachuted Dennis Geisbrecht, a resident of Kamloops, into the Vernon-Lumby riding race. He lost to incumbent Harwinder Sandhu of the NDP.
Milobar said he wouldn’t drop in candidates if elected leader, but that the decision isn’t up to him, rather a top executive with the party. His answer wasn’t all too convincing to the man who asked the question in the gallery, a man named James. “I found the last part of the answer a little bit politically fishy, all ‘I don’t really decide.’ You’re the leader. You decide, just like (former leader John) Rustad, who decided to put the guy (Geisbrecht) in, right?” said James (did not want to give his last name). “You can decide, so don’t give all of this ‘I can’t decide’ stuff.”
Milobar, a former three-term Kamloops mayor, took questions on a number of topics, ranging from BC Ferries to property tax reform to the future of BC Hydro.
Milobar is the most experienced politician to vie for the Conservative leadership so far. He was a Kamloops councillor for six years and mayor for nine.