Booted BC Conservative Kelowna-Mission candidate declined $20,000 in campaign funds to move ridings

Photo: Alexandra Wright

Ousted BC Conservative candidate for Kelowna-Mission Alexandra Wright says she was offered $20,000 in campaign finance funds by the party if she moved ridings.

Party leader John Rustad asked her to move to the Vernon-Lumby riding last month to make room for former BC Liberal leadership hopeful Gavin Dew and $20,000 was offered to boost her campaign in the North Okanagan.

“Those would have been the first funds I would have seen from the party,” Wright told Castanet News.

She declined the proposal after doing “due diligence.”

“I did my due diligence. I looked at who the other people running in that riding were, and I talked to the president of the riding association up there. But ultimately, it just didn't feel right to me,” she said.

Wright previously told Castanet she declined the move to Vernon’s riding because she lives in Ellison and has built a network of supporters in the Kelowna-Mission riding.

Last week, the party removed Wright's candidacy. Gavin Dew was announced as her replacement on Wednesday.

BC Conservative party spokesperson Anthony Koch told the Vancouver Sun, who first reported the $20,000 offer, that Wright was simply “not performing as a candidate.”

“She was not out in the community building relationships, fundraising for her campaign, or door-knocking to meet voters face to face to hear about the issues that matter to them,” Koch told the paper.

Wright says that is news to her.

“They never said anything to me about it,” she told Castanet.

“I went to a bunch of events, I went to car shows. I hosted the meet and greets. I had just done a fundraiser at Priest Creek Winery the week before that was very successful and made $1,500 in donations,” Wright continued.

“They knew I had another big event coming up at the end of August. So if they'd had a concern, I'm not sure why they wouldn't have brought it to me rather than, you know, fire me.”

Wright previously told Castanet News that she suspects her activism against pollution coming from the Sandher Fruit Packers facility on Old Vernon Road, near her own farm, was a big factor in her termination. The company told Castanet Wright’s dismissal is an internal party matter.

Wright says she has received plenty of support since getting fired by the BC Conservatives.

“A lot of people have reached out to me and said that they are really disheartened,” she said.

“Because this was the party that was going to change the way politics were being conducted in this province. This was the party that was talking about freedom of speech, about transparency and openness, and looking at their conduct in this matter. I just don't know if that really reflects what they're talking about.”

Outgoing BC United Kelowna-Mission MLA Renee Merrifield released a statement Friday calling the $20,000 offer to Wright “profoundly troubling.”

“Attempting to manipulate candidate placements with monetary offers not only casts doubt on his party's internal operations but also erodes public trust in the political process as a whole."