Eric Foster has been around politics essentially his whole life. The former Vernon-Monashee MLA worked his first provincial election in Nova Scotia in the late 1960s, and has been involved in provincial campaigns ever since.
In all that time, Foster can't recall a situation akin to what has unfolded in B.C. since mid day Wednesday, Aug. 28, when BC United Leader Kevin Falcon announced his party will suspend its provincial election campaign, putting the party's weight behind the rival Conservative Party of B.C. less than two months ahead of the Oct. 19 election.
"I've never seen anything like this, ever," Foster told The Morning Star Thursday. "I've seen caucuses boot the leader, I've never seen the leader boot the caucus."
Foster retired from politics after representing Vernon-Monashee in Victoria for 11 and a half years with BC United 害羞草研究所� known as the B.C. Liberals until a re-brand last year 害羞草研究所� starting in 2009 and ending in 2020, when he finished runner-up to current Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu of the NDP.
He said he was disappointed to see his former party withdraw, "but it's the nature of the business. You kind of learn to live with these things. And it was fairly obvious, the way the numbers were, that the vote split was going to give the NDP another serious majority government."
Foster lauded Falcon for making a difficult decision to stand his own party down in order to avoid vote-splitting between BC United and the Conservatives.
"That's a big thing for him to do," He said. "I served with Kevin (Falcon) for four years ... and I was happy to support him when he became the leader, and I voted for him for leader. So I'm not surprised that he did what he did, because I truly believe that's the best thing for the province."
Before BC United folded its campaign Wednesday, Foster was on the election team of Lumby mayor Kevin Acton, who was BC United's candidate for the new Vernon-Lumby riding.
"I've been just sort of glued to the news since yesterday when this all broke," Foster said. "I won't say it's shocking. I guess somewhere along the line, somebody had to make a decision as to how to prevent the NDP from getting re-elected, and that's what happened."
Some BC United MLAs and candidates are expected to run as Conservatives, "and it's going to be a mad scramble for the next couple weeks to see who are going to be the candidates for the BC Conservatives and who aren't," Foster said.
There is currently no Conservative candidate for Vernon-Lumby, leaving room for speculation that Acton 害羞草研究所� who was unable to be reached by the time of publication 害羞草研究所� could run for the Conservatives.
Foster said he hopes to see that happen.
"I hope that the BC Conservatives take Kevin Acton on as their candidate," he said. "He's a solid, solid guy. He's a good personal friend, too. I've been working on his (BC United) campaign with him and he's worked hard already, and he's make an excellent MLA, so I hope the BC Conservatives give it a lot of thought."
Foster said he talked Tuesday night to "a couple of my former colleagues that don't now where they stand right now," and said he expects to see "a whole lot of changes with the Conservative candidacy list over the next week.
BC United's withdrawal from the election came after a sharp drop in the polls and lost personnel to the Conservatives, who flipped the script in a short time to become B.C.'s leading right-of-centre party in the polls after being relegated to the political margins in previous elections.
Asked what he thinks led to his old party's demise, Foster said it wasn't so much a matter of policy, explaining he thinks the policy packages of the two right-of-centre parties were "essentially the same" in a lot of ways, with the exception of "a few hardcore beliefs."
"This was about government changes and philosophies," Foster said.
He said the 2023 re-brand from B.C. Liberals to BC United was executed poorly, which may have hurt the party in the polls.
"I don't think it was done very well," Foster said of the re-brand. "I think it should have been done sooner and then really market and promote it, and I think that was one of the things that was a weak point."
