Vaughn Palmer: Can Lorne Doerkson keep B.C. Conservatives, with their history of infighting, united?

VICTORIA — NDP leader David Eby was midway through the news conference to launch the election last month when he got hit with what would prove to be a defining question of the campaign.

“So, have you effectively united the right?” asked the CBC’s Katie DeRosa.

Eby reacted with scorn and disbelief that the Conservatives, fractured into three pieces and beset by headline-making chaos for weeks on end, could be unified.

“They’ve had four leaders in two years, they’ve been in chaos since the last election,” he fumed.

Less than four months had passed since the Conservatives elected a new leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Despite winning by the narrowest of margins, KLF (as she was known) launched a purge that would not have been out of place in a religious cult. She surrounded herself with a collection of oddballs and extremists that would not have been out of place in a convention of internet trolls.

There followed three months of turmoil, resignations and expulsions. At one point, they hired a private detective to find out who was leaking some of the more delicious internal party secrets ever seen by the B.C. news media.

No wonder Eby was tempted to take political advantage of such disarray. But when it became apparent that he was preparing to call a snap election, two years early and in the midst of local government campaigns, the dynamic shifted overnight.

On Sept. 20, Findlay resigned. Later that day, the Conservatives chose Lorne Doerkson as leader. Next day, most of the former caucus members returned to the fold.

So, by the time the premier met with reporters on the 22nd, Conservatives were indeed uniting in anticipation of an election call that was as cynical as it was unnecessary.

“David Eby called a snap election that nobody wanted,” said Doerkson, meeting with reporters later in the day. “But David Eby is going to regret this because this election offers an opportunity for hope and for real change and today, we’re coming together.”

They did come together, too, which was another surprise. But looking back, I am struck by what John Rustad said when asked if the party were ready for an election.

“It is 1,000 times more ready than it was in 2024,” the former leader told reporters. Unready as the Conservatives were then, they almost defeated Eby.

This time the Conservatives have Doerkson, whose likability was acknowledged by Eby himself.

“Sure, he seems like a nice guy,” said the NDP leader, momentarily departing from his increasingly negative campaign.

Doerkson played to his down-to-earth qualities for much of the campaign, avoiding the rough stuff. He also minimized contact with the media, following the rule that when a government is falling, the job of the Opposition is to stay out of the way.

By this week, the leader who’d started the campaign as “Lorne who?” was ahead of Eby in some polls in answer to who was the best choice for premier.

I don’t need to be reminded of 2013 when the opinion polls were wrong about Adrian Dix defeating Christy Clark. Or 1996, when the Gordon Campbell B.C. Liberals won the popular vote by 2½ points over the NDP, but Glen Clark remained premier by winning the seat count, 39 to 33.

But the desperate tone of the NDP campaign suggests the polls are right this time. I am already hearing New Democrats talking about severance packages and the next leadership race.

Supposing the Conservatives do win, you have to wonder how long they can maintain the discipline shown in the campaign.

Within weeks of the 2024 election, a group of 13 newly elected MLAs were already pressuring Rustad to discipline their then caucus colleague, Elenore Sturko, over her supposed departure “from the core values shared by Conservatives.”

Rustad never did get Sturko to toe the line and eventually he expelled her, allegedly for plotting against his leadership. She turned down Doerkson’s invitation to rejoin the caucus, telling reporters that the party continues to harbour intolerance and bigotry.

Given the ups and downs of the past two years, it is hard to believe there won’t be some eruptions among the Conservatives sooner or later. And it would be up to Doerkson to deal firmly with them.

He would be the 12th premier I’ve covered. Only two of those governed well enough to win re-election twice: Bill Bennett and Gordon Campbell. Both made a lot of tough decisions. Neither was known as a nice guy particularly.

Doerkson rose to the challenge of getting it mostly right in a 32-day election campaign.

But that is a long way from saying he can provide the decisive leadership necessary to keep his party united and clean up the mess he stands to inherit from the NDP.