Members of the Liberal Party of British Columbia have approved a process for potentially changing the party’s name by the end of the year.
Party members voted on a congressional resolution in Penticton on Saturday that welcomed new leader Kevin Falcon and sought to define the party’s strategy for the next election, scheduled for the fall of 2024.
The resolution adopted on Saturday will give all members of the Liberal Party of the BC a chance to vote for a new name or keep the current one until the end of the year.
“The party’s name should be one that reflects a diverse and inclusive coalition with a big tent,” Falcon said in a statement shortly after the vote of about 800 delegates.
Liberals in British Columbia are not affiliated with the Federal Liberal Party and are described as a “coalition for free enterprise created in the BC”.
Liberal Trevor Halford, who represents Surrey-White Rock’s ride in the legislature, said about 75 percent of delegates voted in favor of the name change process.
The party said it would immediately begin a broader consultation process in the coming months before holding a full party vote before the end of the year.
Today, BC Liberal delegates
We want to hear from you!
Forward to pic.twitter.com/DzrQDcHAAe
– @bcliberals
The party has launched an online consultation portal where members can contribute.
“This is a decision that membership will eventually make, and we want to hear from everyone, so we encourage people to go online and tell us their thoughts,” Falcon said.
Overdue name change: former cabinet minister
Falcon, who won the leadership race earlier this year, has vowed to revive and rebuild the party in a root-to-branch process that included Saturday’s vote to begin a process that could see liberals fight under a new name. .
Some MLA speakers from the congress, which has 800 delegates, said there was a desire to consider a new name.
Former Liberal Cabinet Minister Mary Pollack said she thought the name change was too late.
“For many, many years, there was a large group of members who wanted to see a name change,” she said. “Part of the way you express your identity as a party is through your name.”
Great activity for the leader’s dinner tonight at the convention photo. twitter.com/zHNPo4icwy
– @AndrewJReeve
Pollack, a former four-term MLA for Langley, where the roots of the Federal Conservatives are deep, said he often had to explain to voters during the election that he was not running for the Federal Liberals.
“Sometimes I knocked on the door and the owner of the house came out and said, ‘Mary, have you changed your mind?'” She said.
“It’s time,” Pollack said. “I don’t think the name already clearly identifies the party.”
The BC election law prohibits the registration of a party under a name that has appeared on the ballot in the last 10 years.
The Liberals have been reduced to 28 seats in the province’s 87-seat legislature in the last election, but are coming out of a spring legislature that challenged the New Democrats’ health government and plans to embark on a major museum restoration project.
“We see a government focusing on a billion-dollar museum when we have schools that are not seismically modernized. “We have one in five people who can’t find a family doctor, almost a million people,” Halford said.
“The next step is to become a government”
The recent political representation of the Liberals in the legislature, the new leader and the lifting of restrictions on COVID-19 to allow gatherings have contributed to a family gathering atmosphere in Congress, he said.
“We are focused on the next step and the next step is to become a government,” Halford said. “We currently have a very, very energetic group that has seen the huge cracks that are emerging in this NDP government.”
Falcon is scheduled to address Congress on Sunday.
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