Ian Paton leaves B.C. Conservatives, plans to form new party

Delta South MLA Ian Paton is leaving the Conservative Party of B.C. to sit as an Independent.

Paton made the announcement on the front steps of the B.C. Legislature Monday morning (Aug. 24).

He said he was authorized advisory role in agriculture to give up his seat for new B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Paton was one of at least three MLAs who said no when asked to step down from their seat to allow Findlay to run.

The morning after that news broke, Paton, in a statement released by the B.C. Conservatives, didn’t address the allegation but instead said he would be resigning as the party’s Lower Mainland lieutenant. He was named in the role on June 30 along with other loyalists in key roles.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who recently quit the B.C. Conservatives caucus, was in attendance.

Paton said his and Milobar’s intention is to form a new party for those who feel “politically homeless.”

He said the province is in “disarray” after a decade of the B.C. NDP, and he can’t let opportunity for change “slip on by.”

More to come.