In a change of pace, BC Conservative candidates are committed to going to candidate forums during the current election campaign.

During the last BC election in 2024, many Conservative candidates didn’t give voters an opportunity to see them argue their points against their opponents, but they’re giving them the opportunity this time.

Kelowna Centre incumbent Kristina Loewen skipped the local all-candidate forum in 2024, and won the riding by 40 votes.

Loewen said she was “absolutely brand new” and it was “really overwhelming.”

“I was knocking on doors like 24/7 meeting the people who could actually vote for me. That’s why I didn’t go last time,” she previously said.

“This time I’ve had some time to get some experience and feel a lot more confident. So there’s no reason not to go at all.”

West Kelowna-Peachland incumbent Macklin McCall was another first time politician for the BC Conservatives who avoided forums last time around. He said this time he’s committed to going.

Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream’s Tara Armstrong was elected as a BC Conservative without making a public appearance at a forum. Many of her constituents wanted to oust her from office and complained that because she didn’t answer questions in front of voters they didn’t really know who they were voting for.

Armstrong left the BC Conservatives before co-founding a new party, OneBC, and then she was kicked out of OneBC over a controversial staffer. She has not officially declared whether or not she’s running in the current election.

Candidates who made the atypical choice to skip forums used the same rationale as Loewen and said they were too busy knocking on doors.

There were a lot of empty seats at forums around the province with BC Conservative names on them. But the more experienced BC Conservative candidates attended.

Kelowna-Mission’s Gavin Dew and Kamloops Centre’s Peter Milobar attended their forums, among others.

Typically forums are organized by business groups who know an election is coming well in advance and have lots of time to set events up. Because this election was called abruptly, only the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has set a date for all candidate events for Kelowna-Mission, Kelowna Centre and Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream.

BC election day is Saturday, Oct. 24.