Victoria (Linked In) – Richard Zussman is now VP Public Affairs, Western Canada at Burson. He is a past political reporter for Global, CBC, CITY TV and Sun Media. Along with Rob Shaw, Zussman co-authored the political best selling book: A Matter of Confidence: The Inside Story of the Political Battle for BC.
With John Rustad calling it quits, the BC Conservative Party now has a clean slate to showcase itself to the public. The face of the new path forward for the party will be whoever the party elects as its leader, and with so many competing factions within the conservative movement the leadership is bound to get complicated.
There are already people organizing across the province in preparation for a leadership race. The Conservative Party has not decided the rules for the race yet and are still determining what the entry fee should be and how they should allocate weighting for members across the province. I suspect they will model the points system based on what was done at the federal level.
The field will eventually shrink down to a few front runners, but the situation is very fluid. Here are some possible candidates:
Yuri Fulmer: An Order of BC entrepreneur and philanthropist who finished second in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky in the last provincial election.
Chris Gardner: The president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association of BC has long been mentioned as a potential political heavyweight considering he is one of the most recognizable faces in the province’s business community.
Caroline Elliott: A former BC United candidate has seen her profile increase recently over her concerns around the impact on private property rights from the Cowichan Tribes decision.
Iain Black: Former BC Liberal minister and head of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade most recently finished second in the federal riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.
Harman Banghu: A long time BC Conservative member was elected in Langley-Abbotsford in 2024 and is currently serving his first term.
Elenore Sturko: Currently an Independent MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale after being booted from the Conservative caucus for questioning Rustad’s leadership. It is unclear whether she would be eligible for the leadership considering potential issues with her party membership status. She previously served as a BC Liberal/BC United MLA before joining the Conservatives leading up to the last election.
Bruce Banman: The Abbotsford South MLA and former Abbotsford mayor is a strong Rustad supporter and was the first BC United MLA to quit the party and join the Conservatives leading into the last election.
Peter Milobar: The Kamloops-North Thompson MLA was first elected as a BC Liberal MLA and decided not to leave BC United until leader Kevin Falcon quit. He is currently the Finance critic and is a former Kamloops mayor.
Ellis Ross: The Skeena MP was first elected federally in April after serving seven years as a provincial MLA. He finished second in the BC Liberal leadership race that was won by Falcon.
Aaron Gunn: The North Island-Powell River MP was first elected in 2025, he was barred from running in the last BC Liberal leadership race due to comments made about reconciliation.
One person for sure not running. Brad West. The reason, he’s not a Conservative.
