“I fully well understand what the role of the Premier is and that's about the protection, and an eye to the protection, of all in British Columbia.”

BC Conservative leadership contender, Peter Milobar, has a reputation as a serious legislator who knows his files. A skilled debater, impervious to heckling from the government side, his arguments are logical, often dense with facts and occasionally punctuated with deadpan retorts.

A former city councillor, Milobar was elected mayor of Kamloops three times and board chair of the Thompson-Nicola Regional Distist five years in a row. In 2017, he won the Kamloops North Thompson riding and joined the Official Opposition BC Liberals (later, renamed BC United) where he served variously as house leader, critic of the environment, Indigenous relations, and finance. When BC United folded in 2024, Milobar was recruited by the BC Conservatives and won the riding of Kamloops Centre.

For the last four years, he has been finance critic opposite three finance ministers, largely under Premier David Eby. In that time, “there is no doubt that fiscal restraint has gone completely out the window,” Milobar says.

Arguably, no one in the legislative chamber, outside of the current BC NDP Finance Minister, knows the BC government’s budgets better than Milobar.

There are worse starting points for a man with his eye on the premier’s chair.

Postcast preview: Being OK with a ‘D’ Grade

Before he can make his case to the province, Milobar must first convince BC Conservative members he’s the best candidate to lead their party into the next general election.

Like other contenders, Milobar is working hard to meet members and raise his profile so people understand who he is and what he stands for.

[Conversations that Matter host Stu McNish aired an informative interview with Milobar on Vancouver Sun, giving a shotgun overview his views across several key areas.]

In our conversation this week, we went deeper into the province’s most complex problems, namely, historic levels of government debt and deficit, and a mismanaged reconciliation agenda.

Milobar parses through the strategy to rein in spending, arguing that fiscal measures must be tied to improving outcomes. “We are not a competitive tax jurisdiction when it comes to job creators, when it comes to attracting investment.”

He says the BC government must clarify decision-making on the land base to restore investor and landowner certainty and accelerate resource development and project permitting.

“It's been eight months [since government introduced] the legislation to accelerate projects and they don't have the regulation written for the legislation that's supposed to accelerate projects,” he said.

“I'm not saying you can just wave a magic wand… but what we have right now is a government that is just in paralysis to actually move forward with anything. We need to put a little bit of common sense into this to actually get the permits flowing.”

‘DRIPA is not the vehicle’

Milobar lays out why he and other Opposition MLAs voted with the BCNDP to pass the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) in 2019, along with the disconnect between how the legislation was presented at the time by elected officials of the late John Horgan's government, versus what has been implemented since.

He is clear on what must happen next to advance genuine reconciliation.

“DRIPA is not the vehicle; it needs to be repealed.”

After a court ruling stated all laws must conform with DRIPA, Premier David Eby promised to bring in amendments to essentially restrict the courts from being able to treat DRIPA as an actionable law. Leaders of some First Nations groups have warned DRIPA must stay as is. Eby hasn’t yet shared the substance of the amendments.

“We just have to acknowledge it was a failed attempt by government to try to do something that didn't work. There's no shame in admitting that and moving on,” says Milobar.

Instead, he says, government needs to find another way forward that protects private property rights, respects the constitutional obligations and duties to Indigenous people, and negotiates in good faith with First Nations.

“I full well understand what the role of the Premier is and that’s about the proterction, and an eye to the protection, of the rights of all in British Columbia, not one subsection or the other,” says Milobar.

“But that means treating everybody fairly and with respect. It doesn’t mean everyone just gets what they want.”

Listen to the podcast to hear all this and more.

As always, thanks for reading and supporting independent journalism.

And let us know what you think of today’s pod.

—Fran

Podcast producers: Rob Shaw & Zach Proulx

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