Former B.C. cabinet minister Iain Black is in the race for the Province’s Conservative leadership.
With former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad stepped down from his role last December; no fewer than ten candidates are looking to unite the party under their vision.
With his experience leading in the public and private sectors, Black believes he is the right person for the job.
From 2005 until 2011, Black was MLA of the Port Moody-Coquitlam riding for the B.C. Liberals. During this time, he held multiple positions in then-Premier Gordon Campbell’s cabinet as the Minister of Labour and Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development.
Following his time as MLA, Black was also the president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade from 2011 to 2019.
In 2025, he ran for the Conservatives in the federal election for the riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam but lost to Liberal candidate Ron McKinnon by 2,520 votes.
If Black wins the race to lead the B.C. Conservatives, he would be jumping back into provincial politics after nearly 15 years out of office.
He told Capital News that he’s coming back because both the province and his party are at a “crossroads.”
“I’m desperately worried about where we’re at,” Black said, speaking about mental illness and drug addiction treatment, community safety, and economic opportunity for B.C. residents. “Of all these years we’ve put into parenting and raising our families and hoping there will be opportunities for them here in British Columbia, it’s not coming true.”
As for the Conservative Party, Black said he sees an opportunity to guide the new party.
“(The B.C. Conservative party) It’s ready to go to the next level,” Black said. “And that’s what I plan to do with it when I win this contest.”
Black was in the Okanagan during the weekend of Feb. 7 to gather support in what he thinks is a key region in the province, both for its conservative voter base and the knowledge he’s been able to gather from an economically diverse population.
During his time here, he said he was able to speak with many constituents in the Okanagan.
Hearing concerns from them and others across the province, Black has formed the message of his campaign – the restoration of Main Street (downtown cores) across the province.
“When I talk about restoring Main Street, in a lot of these smaller communities, it’s quite literally Main Street; the name of the street is Main Street. People want to be comfortable there again; they want to do business there again. They want to walk there on a Saturday and do shopping there again without fear for their safety,” Black said.
“We speak a lot about small businesses and the lack of them and how they’re struggling at the moment. Storefronts are empty… because small businesses aren’t there. (That’s) because they’re having to deal with homelessness, drug addiction, and crime right in their own stores, and they feel helpless to do anything about it.”
Black said this is a multi-faceted problem and that the government would have to work on multiple issues concurrently to fix the problem.
Still, he named some of the key areas he believes can be improved.
For one, he took a strict stance on homelessness and mandatory mental health care for his preferred policy on combating drug addiction within the province.
He condemned B.C. NDP policy on safe-supply, saying his government would make it a priority to end those programs and to make treatment mandatory for those dealing with drug addiction who are staying in social housing.
He also called for the province to bolster its manpower in terms of policing. He pushed to “empower, encourage and – if necessary – mandate” the medical community to be able to put afflicted individuals in involuntary care, saying it’s currently “tragic” that people can be on the streets.
To realize these promises, Black admitted that it will cost the government more money than he believes can be found in a restructuring of the provincial budget.
“We have to bring or Conservative philosophy and value system to this government,” he said, adding that his ideal restructure would shrink the government to focus on principal services of healthcare, education, and care for the vulnerable population, while placing minimal regulations on the private sector.
“It sounds like a cliche, but it’s actually a very, very important principle that drives my thinking; a government can’t create jobs… a government doesn’t create employment on taxpayer income. A government’s job is to make it really attractive for private citizens and entrepreneurs to invest their money, take the risks, and as a result, employ people who pay (taxes).”
Black said he spent three years on the B.C. Treasury Board and understands how to build a budget.
“We don’t have the 18 to 24 months for someone to learn to do that. Once we form a government, we need to start right away. One of the places where we need to start is obviously with the budget.”
He is also running with the promise of repealing the B.C. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
Black and other candidates will find out if they are next to lead the B.C. Conservatives after the voting period which takes place from May 9 to 30.
Some of the other candidates include MLAs Bruce Banman, Steve Kooner, Peter Milobar, Sheldon Care, and former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
Investor Yuri Fulmer, former Save-On-Foods executive Darrell Jones, contractor Warren Hamm and former political pundit Caroline Elliot are also in the running.