Kelowna’s OneBC candidate isn’t really running to win

Alexandra Wright is running for OneBC in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, not to win but to support the party’s leader. 

Wright is undeterred by OneBC’s messy, brief history because she supports party leader Dallas Brodie’s message against truth and reconciliation and sexual orientation and gender identity education. 

“Am I doing this to win? Not really. I’m doing it because Dallas Brodie is an amazing person,” Wright said. 

Poll analytics from 338Canada give Wright up to a four per cent chance of winning. 

Brodie was elected in 2024 as a BC Conservative, then ousted from the party for mocking residential school survivors. Eventually she founded OneBC with former MLA Tara Armstrong before the party imploded over a staffer who made pro-Nazi posts. 

Wright said the BC Conservatives have gone too far to the left and B.C. needs a more conservative party to tackle the issues. 

“If you look at Dallas, she is one out of 93 who’s actually speaking out, and not just toeing the line. And I think that we really, as a province, need strong leaders who are not afraid to just speak the truth, even when others are offended,” she said. “This is a grassroots movement and it has to start somewhere.”

OneBC has also platformed residential school denier Frances Widdowson and anti-trans advocate Chris “Billboard Chris” Elston. Brodie made a controversial documentary promoting the idea that the outrage around residential schools is a conspiracy engineered for profit. 

Wright stands by Brodie’s ideas, but said she could deal with these sensitive issues with less confrontation. 

“Perhaps the way that she says things could be more tactful. And I might get in trouble for saying that, but I don’t think anybody would really disagree with me,” she said. “A lot of people are worried about SOGI(sexual orientation and gender identity education). A lot of people are worried about the truth and reconciliation industry.” 

In six weeks OneBC introduced nine bills, mostly targeting the LGBTQ and First Nations. They include banning land acknowledgements, getting rid of Truth and Reconciliation Day, a bill that would ban flying LGBTQ Pride flags at government buildings and a bill against diversity, equity and inclusion. 

None of those bills passed. 

Wright said people’s perception that OneBC only cares about culture war issues is overblown.

“I think those are the ones that get the traction in the media because they are the ones that are guaranteed to get certain people in our local community just hopping mad,” she said. 

Wright said Brodie’s ideas on First Nations and gender education are important but the way she promotes them can be divisive and draws focus away from the real issues around affordability and over-regulation. 

“The time for being divisive in this society is it’s got to be done,” she said. “We’re talking about things that are actually having an impact on normal people and the economy. Is it a shock factor? Is it the mainstream media sometimes attacking her and pulling words out of context? I would argue that there’s a bit of both in there.”

In this election cycle OneBC has been promoting a case where Wright’s opponent, BC Conservative Pavneet Singh, was accused of a sex crime almost 20 years ago. The charges were stayed, case dropped and Singh told iNFOnews.ca that prosecutors realized they had the wrong guy. 

Wright then told iNFOnews.ca that she hadn’t heard about the case until we “broke” the story, even though her party was the one who posted about it in the first place. 

In 2024 Wright was initially supposed to run in Kelowna-Mission, but she dropped out after she alleges former leader John Rustad pressured her to switch ridings to Vernon-Lumby. 

Kelowna-Mission was won by BC Conservative Gavin Dew and Vernon-Lumby was won by BC NDP Harwinder Sandhu. 

“I went through the nomination process in Kelowna-Mission, and I didn’t feel right that they were just going to oust me undemocratically,” she said. 

OneBC might not have a chance of winning if you look at the polls, but Wright said the effort is worth it nonetheless. 

“Dallas is a visionary, like she’s a warrior,” Wright said. “If you’re scared to talk and you don’t have that courage, then you’re going to let things happen that you don’t agree with.”