B.C. United wants to include 'formerly B.C. Liberals' on ballot

The rebranded B.C. United Party is asking for its old name to be included on the ballot for the October provincial election.

The move comes after another bruising week for the Official Opposition, as another B.C. United MLA defected to the surging B.C. Conservatives and a poll puts United in fourth place provincially. 

B.C. United spokesperson Adam Wilson said the party intends to ask Elections B.C. to include "formerly B.C. Liberals" in brackets next to the B.C. United name on the ballot in October.

Mary Polak, a former B.C. Liberal MLA, says the rebranded B.C. United party under leader Kevin Falcon has struggled to articulate a clear message and connect with right-of-centre voters.

Polak, who represented the B.C. Liberals for Langley from 2005 to 2020, said she left the party a few months ago and she's not surprised B.C. United MLAs are doing the same. 

"If over time you feel that you're not being listened to and there's not the appropriate leadership to take the party forward, you have to consider your interests," Polak told CBC News. "Because you're there as an MLA trying to represent your constituency, and you need to have confidence in your leaders."

Polak was supportive of the party's decision to change its name in April 2023, which was partly to avoid any association with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's federal Liberals.

But despite spending $1 million on a rebranding campaign, internal polling shows around 30 per cent of party members are unfamiliar with the B.C. United name.

Polak said it's overly simplistic to blame the party's problems on the name change alone.

"Any sober analysis will tell you the launch of the rebrand was botched quite terribly," she said.

"There really wasn't any meat on the bones when it was rolled out. The message was 'We're B.C. United', but the question was, united for what?"

In recent months, Falcon and other party members have stressed that B.C. United is the same party as the one that led B.C. for 16 years under former premier Gordon Campbell. 

Hamish Telford, a political scientist with the University of the Fraser Valley, said a nod to the former B.C. Liberal name on the ballot won't be enough to overcome flagging polling numbers.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the rebranding exercise … was botched," Telford said. "But I think this idea of putting 'formerly B.C. Liberals' on the ballot smacks of desperation."