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The B.C. Conservatives have recruited a former B.C. NDP MLA to run for the party which leader John Rustad said is an indication previously loyal New Democrats are fed up with the governing party.
Gwen O’Mahony, former NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, will run for the Conservatives in the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding.
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O’Mahony was elected to represent Chilliwack-Hope during an April 2012 byelection to replace Liberal Barry Penner after he resigned. O’Mahony’s tenure as an MLA was short-lived, however, since she was defeated in the 2013 election by Liberal Laurie Throness.
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O’Mahony said she left the NDP last month after feeling frustrated with the government’s experiment with drug decriminalization which she said has “failed addicts.” During a press conference Wednesday, O’Mahony, who now lives in Nanaimo, said her nephew has struggled with addiction and homelessness and, during a hospital stay, became frustrated with health care workers prioritizing prescription opioids over abstinence-based treatment and recovery.
O’Mahony also opposes the current policy around sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Last year, she moderated a panel discussion on the threat to women-only spaces and women-only sports as a result of gender inclusive policies and criticized policies that allow “biological males” to be transferred to women’s prisons if they self identify as women.
Rustad said O’Mahony’s switch to the Conservatives is a sign the party is attracting people not based on political ideology but because of a desire to “stand up for what’s right.”
NDP house leader Ravi Kahlon said in a statement it’s “disappointing” to see people fall into the trap of “extreme movements like transphobia and the anti-vaccine trucker convoy…It’s not a surprise to see her join with John Rustad, who is more focused on divisive Trump-style politics than he is on the real challenges people are facing, like housing costs and global inflation.”
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