The Conservative Party of B.C is in disarray following the sudden resignation of Leader Wilf Hanni and half its board of directors. Hanni blamed infighting for his departure, saying he and the others who quit were tired of dealing with a “group of dissidents.” “We were hoping to achieve peace in the party so that we could build on our success and turn our party into a real force in the next election, but our efforts continue to be undermined,” Hanni said Wednesday. The Conservatives gained only two per cent of the popular vote province-wide in the May 12 election, but they were much more popular in the Central Okanagan. All three local candidates got more than 10 per cent of the vote, well behind the Liberals and NDP, but ahead of the slumping Green Party. Mary Ann Graham, who represented the Conservatives in Kelowna-Lake Country, said Hanni‘s resignation was a “positive step.” “I do see there‘s an opportunity now for new blood in the party,” she said. “Sometimes a shakeup is a good thing.”
Graham, a former regional district director, intends to stay involved with the Conservatives, who will hold their annual general meeting on Sept. 26 in Chilliwack. “The party has good principles and platforms,” Graham said. “It‘s just unfortunate that there were personality differences.” Joe Cardoso of Oliver gained more than 20 per cent of the popular vote in Boundary-Similkameen, the highest for any Conservative candidate in the province. However, he had just recently joined the party, after earlier being ousted as the Liberal candidate, and is not aware of what disputes there may be within the Tory executive. Cardoso also downplayed any suggestion he might be interested in running for the Conservative leadership in wake of Hanni‘s resignation.
“It‘s obviously going to take someone with a great deal of time (who is) willing to expend great energy to bring the party together,” he said. “I have to be honest, I‘m not sure I‘m the person who has that kind of time and energy to devote to building a party.” During the election campaign, the Conservatives offered a right-of-centre platform that called for, among other things, the lowest taxes in Canada, equal public funding for private schools and deportation of convicted criminals who are not Canadian citizens to their country of origin “by the cheapest method.”
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The Tyee June 30: Party President Wayne McGrath, who remains on the Board of Directors, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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BC CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER AND BOARD MEMBERS RESIGN
Western Standard July 1: The Shotgun Blog
CRANBROOK: BC Conservative Party Leader Wilf Hanni and several members of the Provincial Board of Directors issued the following statement today:
“Wilf Hanni has been Party Leader since 2005 and since that time, we have fought hard to unite this Party and to build it into a force to be reckoned with in B.C. Politics. At times the fight seemed overwhelming, but we stuck with it and despite the difficulties, we were able to accomplish a lot. We have spent much of the last four years fighting a long and protracted battle with a group of dissidents. As a result, the Party has amassed almost $30,000 in legal bills and we still have not managed to unite the members of the Board of Directors. A small band of Board Members still insists on fighting and having its own way. Despite these difficulties, under Wilf Hanni’s leadership and with the help of our hard working and dedicated Board members, we have managed to adopt a great new set of policies and a good constitution. We have also built our Party membership several times over. In addition, we have more than tripled the number of candidates in the 2009 Election campaign, compared to the 2004 election and have also tripled our percentage of the popular vote in the ridings in which we ran candidates. We were hoping to achieve peace in the Party so that we could work together to build on our success and turn our Party into a real force in the next election campaign, but our efforts continue to be undermined. The constant infighting is continuing and there does not appear to be any end in sight.
Accordingly the following members of the Board of Directors have decided to resign from our positions and from the BC Conservative Party, effective immediately:
Wilf Hanni, Party Leader
Bob Eedy, Vice-president
Maria Dobi, Party Secretary
Shirley Abraham, Director and Former President
David Duncan, Director
Yvonne Dunlop, Director and Recording Secretary
Liz Eedy, Director
Barb Smith, Director
Mathew Hanni, Director
In addition, the following people have resigned since the May 12th General Election because of this ongoing infighting.
Gill Picard, Party Secretary and Webmaster
Lis Quinn, Treasurer and Financial Agent
Gary Johncox, Director and Fundraising Manager.
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