B.C. Conservative MLAs Steve Kooner and Sheldon Clare are out of the party leadership race.
Both announced their intentions via social media.
Clare, who represents Prince George-North Cariboo, told Black Press Media he failed to get the required 250 signatures from party members. He had signed up 281, he said, but upon party review, not all of those qualified, and he fell 27 short in the end (It might have been as many as 29, but he said the party did not provide him a final count).
The application deadline was Feb. 15, and 11 people applied. The party has yet to announce which candidates made it through the vetting process. Voting will take place on May 30 at a leadership convention.
Candidates do not get a membership list before their application is approved. This means it can be hard to tell if a signatory is a member in good standing, Clare said.
“We figured we had just about 300 that we submitted, and that allowed for nearly a 10 per cent buffer, and we figured we should be fine,” he said.
Clare took responsibility for failing to get enough.
“Regardless, that’s on me,” he said. “If I wanted to have more signatures, I needed to get more people to sign.”
Kooner, who represents Richmond-Queensborough, said in a post on X that he decided to withdraw last week.
“In a large candidate field, I concluded that the responsible path forward is to support a candidate positioned to unite the party and win,” Kooner wrote. “I’m currently in discussions with several campaigns and will be sharing more soon.”
Black Press Media has reached out to Kooner for comment.
Clare expressed some concern about the state of the race after his and Kooner’s exit.
“It’s disappointing because I think that it’s important that there be some strong conservative voices in this race,” he said. “And I’m concerned that there may well be some who are less than willing to take up that mantle.”
Clare says he will wait to see which candidates get the green light from the party before making an endorsement.