Dan Brooks, who ran for the MLA seat for the Nechako Lakes riding finishing third, announced that he will seek leadership of the B.C. Conservatives for this fall.
"I feel like this province needs the Conservatives," he said. "We need a Conservative party that moves government towards fiscal responsibility. Without that, I think we're doomed to lean left and go towards socialism."
The Conservatives took a significant part in the last B.C. election for the first time in a generation even though they won no seats.
"Even though we didn't win the election, or even a seat, I feel like the Conservatives actually had a very large role to play in the outcome of that election in regards to what platform was on the table."
Brooks said that because of the strength of the Conservative campaign the Liberals made a huge swing to the right in order to counter them, thus the "debt-free B.C." platform. Brooks says that's a mostly Conservative concept not a Liberal one.
"So we pulled B.C. politics to the right and that's a good thing for B.C., from a Conservative perspective of course."
Brooks said that he disagrees with any pundits who might say that Conservatives should just get out of B.C. and there should just be Liberals and NDP.
"If it is just the Liberals and the NDP, then it becomes NDP and NDP light," Brooks said. "I don't think that's healthy for a political system."
Brooks is very against the whip system of government, he said that it's a huge problem for the Conservatives and admits that the federal government has made a few mistakes by maintaining their stance on it.
The whip system means that each member of a party has to vote and agree with the party stance on any issue. If a member of a political party disagrees with party policy then there are certain punishments that members can face.
Brooks wants to govern with a constituents first policy.
"The Liberals and the NDP are incapable of doing that because they govern by the whip system. And so long as you have whip it's not constituents first it's government first."
So instead of going to MLAs and dictating that they must vote yes on legislation Brooks wants to ask MLAs what their constituents think of legislation, whether it's good for them or not.
"Leadership by consensus," Brooks said. "It's up to the 60 or so candidates left behind to decide where to take the party.
Brooks' family owns Crystal Lake resort and he is a guide and outfitter with a degree in Greek-Roman History. These are, perhaps, conflicting interests but Brooks said that he's going to go back and get a Law degree soon and that he loves Northern B.C.