BC United executives eye Conservative race, as donations still flow for dormant party

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon, back right, listens as BC Conservative Leader John Rustad speaks during a news conference, in Vancouver, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon has announced that he is suspending BC United's election campaign and is encouraging supporters to instead back the rival BC Conservative Party. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

It was a once-dominant force in British Columbia politics, but for more than a year and a half the party formerly known as the BC Liberals has been dormant — at least in the public eye.

Now, a scandal over dirty tricks in the run-up to the 2024 provincial election has put the party that changed its name to BC United back into the spotlight, and under scrutiny for its ongoing influence on the B.C. political scene.

The party’s annual financial report filed with Elections BC reveals that BC United continued to rake in donations made both wittingly and unwittingly, despite withdrawing all its candidates and folding up its tent in August 2024.

Last week, the independent election overseer fined BC United $4,500 for a campaign of pre-election falsehoods targeting the B.C. Conservatives.

BC United’s president, former MLA Ben Stewart, said the fate of the party won’t be decided until after the Conservatives decide on their next leader, even as some in the official Opposition complain about former BC United figures’ ongoing efforts to sway the vote.

Stewart, a veteran of B.C.’s Okanagan wine industry, said he and other party executives are watching and waiting to see the outcome of the Conservative race.

“I hope that there’s a great showing and strong outcome in terms of this leadership race, and we can move on,” Stewart said. “I would say that there is no plan at the present time to do anything with the brand in terms of running candidates in the next election, unless something — I mean, that’ll be up to the executive to decide. They have not made that decision yet.

“We don’t want to get in the way of what’s happening with the leadership race in the B.C. Conservatives.”

Stewart didn’t say who the United team preferred to see as Conservative leader — but leading contenders include BC United stalwarts Caroline Elliott and MLA Peter Milobar.

Rival candidates and former Conservative leader John Rustad have meanwhile expressed concern about the more-centrist United camp taking over the Conservatives from within. It’s a fear that has persisted for some since United leader Kevin Falcon stood beside Rustad on Aug. 28, 2024, to announce his party’s withdrawal from the election.

Despite Falcon urging voters to support Conservative candidates, BC United didn’t dissolve.

Longtime United supporter Aly Devji, CEO of a seniors care home in Langley, B.C., is one of more than 300 people who donated to the party in 2025.

The party took in more than $150,000 last year, as detailed in the party’s annual financial report filed with Elections BC.

The fact that the vast majority of donations were recorded on the 20th of each month suggests they were being made automatically, some without the donor’s knowledge.

Devji said he didn’t know his monthly donations continued last year, only finding out from a reporter. The discovery prompted him to search his credit card statements to figure out which one was being charged.

“I’m surprised and I’m disappointed about how all that went down, but it is what it is,” Devji said.

He said he’d be contacting his neighbour, Conservative MLA Ian Paton, formerly with BC United, to help sort out and stop the payments.

David Hoff, a government relations executive with construction company Ledcor, also kept up his donations to the party in 2025, but did so knowingly.

Hoff said he’s had friends work for various political parties in B.C., calling such work a “big sacrifice” that produces more losers than winners.

“I didn’t want the people involved to be abandoned (no severance, etc.) or their vendors to get burned,” Hoff said in an online message. “Think of it like buying a ticket for a Canucks hockey game right now. You would do so because you love the game, or a particular player, or maybe you can get it at a discount.”

Stewart said BC United still had obligations to comply with election rules and pay its bills.

“Essentially what the BC United party decided was that they were not going to run candidates in the 2024 election,” he said. “That didn’t preclude the fact that we had expenses and other things.”

The party, he said, sold its software used to manage its membership rolls and it was licensed to the B.C. Conservatives, taking in $800,000 to go toward outstanding debts.

The membership names and information was not part of the sale, he said.

Falcon, who is Elliott’s brother-in-law, remains BC United’s leader.

Stewart said he hasn’t spoken to Falcon in months, and is unaware of his post-politics activities and feelings about the party’s trajectory.

“I’m sure he has lots of feelings about it. Honestly, I haven’t talked to him about it, so I tell you what, I can’t help you even find him,” Stewart said. “He would like to, you know, not be the leader.”

While many Conservative MLAs and supporters are former BC United members, the dirty tricks scandal has renewed bad blood between some.

The investigation by Elections BC that set off the fine found BC United hired an Alberta-based firm called Sovereign North Strategies Inc., which set up a website “firejohnrustad.ca” and sent out a mailer making false allegations against MLA Teresa Wat.

The website falsely purported to be the work of disgruntled Conservatives.

Rustad believes it may have cost his party the election, which brought the party to within three seats of victory.

He said in an interview that Falcon has “gone underground when it comes to politics, although he is on a daily basis making phone calls to support his sister-in-law, Caroline Elliott.”

He said Elections BC had pointed the finger at United campaign workers for the “incredibly machiavellian” website and mail out, but he believes the party’s leadership, including Falcon, was aware.

“He actually had the gall to say that Caroline Elliott winning the leadership of the Conservative Party would complete his vision of the transformation from the old BC Liberals,” Rustad said.

Anthony Koch, Caroline Elliott’s director of communications, said Tuesday that Rustad’s comments appeared based on a “spoof” news release from April Fool’s day that claimed Falcon had endorsed Elliott, and in fact Falcon had no official or unofficial role in Elliott’s campaign.

Rustad said in a text message he didn’t know about the release, and said “organizers and business people have told me Falcon called them and encouraged them to support Caroline’s campaign.”

Elections BC said “evidence confirms” former BC United campaign manager Mark Werner, his then-deputy Adam Wilson, and Sovereign North “organized” the campaign of falsehoods.

But Werner said in an interview last week that he had no knowledge of it, and though the election regulator said it tried speaking with him, he never heard from them despite his contact information being easily found online.

Werner said he was still upset about how Falcon abandoned the party’s 2024 campaign.

“I was very bitter about what Kevin did at the time, shutting down the campaign,” he said. “When that happened — I was, you know, disgusted by it.”

Two days after Werner’s interview with The Canadian Press, Milobar announced that Werner was out as his Conservative leadership campaign manager.

The sequence of events leading to BC United dissolving its campaign still bothered Werner.

“When you get up and you tell everybody we’re going to win and you raise a bunch of money but you already know that the party is going to shut down, I don’t think that’s very cool,” Werner said of Falcon.

He said Falcon’s involvement in Elliott’s campaign is well known among members.

“He’s actively involved in Caroline’s campaign. We know that. He’s working the phones, fundraising,” he said. “I’ve heard a negative reaction by a lot of them because of what happened with BC United.”

Falcon could not be reached for comment.

For Stewart, the Elections BC penalty came as a surprise and the party executive was planning to meet to discuss a possible appeal.

He said it was a “bit of a black eye” on the style of campaign run by Werner.

Stewart said in the meantime the party is just “trying to find our way forward,” amid buzz about a potential provincial election even while the Conservative leadership race is ongoing.

“Do things get any more crazier?,” Stewart said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press