Peter Milobar and Mike Bernier merge centre-right parties into CentreBC with eight legislature seats

Peter Milobar, the Kamloops Centre MLA, and Mike Bernier announced Friday in Vancouver that two centre-right political groups are merging under the CentreBC banner. Milobar is taking over as party leader; Bernier, the former B.C. United MLA with no seat in the legislature, is stepping down.

The merged party will hold eight seats in the legislature. The merger comes as a possible snap election looms, potentially as early as this weekend, with Premier David Eby expected to call one.

Milobar finished last in the B.C. Conservative leadership race won by Kerry-Lynne Findlay. He had wanted to name the party the "B.C. Party" but Elections B.C. would not allow it before the Abbotsford-Mission byelection. In recent weeks, six B.C. Conservative MLAs defected to Milobar's group: Ian Paton (Delta South), Bruce Banman (Abbotsford South), Donegal Wilson (Boundary-Similkameen), Teresa Wat (Richmond-Bridgeport), Áʼa꞉líya Warbus (Chilliwack-Cultus Lake), and Rosalyn Bird (Prince George-Valemount). Eleanor Sturko (Surrey-Cloverdale), who was kicked out of the Conservatives by former leader John Rustad in September 2025, also signed on with CentreBC.

Milobar said at the announcement: "That is what Mike and myself have been doing quite literally over the last few weeks, trying to build a coalition of two parties to come together as one, trying to take dramatic, aggressive steps to get ready for a general election that's unnecessary in its timing."

He outlined priorities: "We are going to be hyper-focused on health care and bringing that innovation and creative solutions into that sector, so people can actually have a health-care system they can rely on, and cancer access they can rely on. We're going to be hyper focused around crime and safety on our streets to make sure people actually feel safe again."

Stucko, explaining her move, said: "When I meet constituents, they're talking about the economy, they're talking about affordability, they're talking about access to timely health care and being safe. Those are things that are important."