Kelowna, Kamloops MLAs poll well to replace BC Conservative leader Rustad

A pollster asked 1,000 British Columbians who should replace BC Conservative leader John Rustad and MLAs in Kelowna and Kamloops had support.

Research Co. released poll results, Nov. 13, showing that Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew and Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar polled well for the job of BC Conservative leader among sitting members of the party.

When asked if they would vote for the BC Conservative if Dew were party leader, 19 per cent of respondents said they would and 20 per cent said they would vote BC NDP.

When asked if British Columbians would vote BC Conservative if Milobar were the party leader, 18 per cent said they would vote blue and 24 per cent said they would vote BC NDP.

The poll results comes after Rustad survived a leadership review, and five MLAs left the party criticizing his leadership.

Former BC Conservative and now independent MLA Elenore Sturko polled well among the survey respondents with 21 per cent saying they would vote for the party if she was the leader with 23 per cent saying they would vote BC NDP in that scenario.

Sturko was ousted from the BC Conservative Party back in September.

Penticton-Summerland’s newly independent MLA Amelia Boultbee is the most recent departure from the BC Conservatives. She was outspoken about her issues with Rustad’s leadership when she left the party in October.

“There was no way that I could maintain my own integrity and work with that man,” she told iNFOnews.ca when she left the party.

Research Co. also asked people where provincial party leaders landed on a scale from extreme left to extreme right.

When asked where Rustad landed, 20 per cent of respondents said he was extreme right, 28 per cent said right and 14 per cent said centre right.

When asked about Premier David Eby, 10 per cent said extreme left, 22 per cent said left and 19 per cent said centre left.