In the end, it was a handshake deal at midnight in the boardroom of a downtown Vancouver law firm that brought together the BC United and Conservative parties.
Kevin Falcon and John Rustad, together in a room, talking at length — at some points even jovially — for the first time in more than two years.
How they got there happened quickly, and involved only six people. In the end, some of Falcon’s closest advisors and longest-serving MLAs had no idea what he’d done until the last moment. Many watched Wednesday’s televised press conference with the rest of the public to learn what was going on.
It started Sunday, when Caroline Elliott, the United candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano, former party vice president and Falcon’s sister-in-law, reached out by text to Angelo Isidorou, the Conservative party’s executive director. Would he be willing to meet and talk about where things are at, she asked.
Falcon had empowered Elliott to start face-to-face discussions. He wanted to hear directly from the Conservatives, amidst a swirl of political rumours, pressured meetings from business leaders and declining party donations.
Labour Day was looming — the unofficial start of the election campaign, when things would kick into high gear. If anything was going to happen, it had to happen now.
Elliott and Isidorou sat down at Browns Socialhouse in North Vancouver’s Lonsdale area for an informal chat Sunday evening — two trusted interlocutors from either side feeling out, over a Guinness, whether there was enough common ground for a formal meeting.
They quickly determined there was.
Tuesday, at 2 p.m., Elliott and United executive director Lindsay Coté gathered in a boardroom in Vancouver with Isidorou and Conservative president Aisha Estey.
The Conservative staffers took the meeting with low expectations. Some of the same people had tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal in May. The failure to do so, had led to three BC United MLAs defecting to the Conservatives.
Elliott set the tone of the meeting off the top: Falcon has spent his life fighting the BC NDP, and he’s very, very serious about getting a deal to avoid handing the NDP another term in power and doing irreparable damage to the province, she said.
It was a serious opening play, and the Conservatives took notice.
United then offered up its large package of opposition research on controversial views held by Conservative candidates (the party had been planning to release information on a Conservative candidate who believes in the chemtrails conspiracy on Wednesday, but did not) and divulged which Conservative candidates it believes have documented problematic views.
The staffers starting pulling out spreadsheets, going through the list of United and Conservative incumbents and candidates.
Elliott, Isidorou and Estey have a friendly relationship outside of politics, so the conversation was open and candid. United pushed to save its incumbent MLAs, as well as some of what it viewed as its best candidates. The Conservatives pushed to keep their best candidates on the table as well.
After a couple of hours, the United staffers got word that Falcon’s flight had just landed in Vancouver from Victoria, where he’d spent the morning announcing the party’s forestry policy. Could he join the meeting, they asked.
Soon, Falcon himself was in the room.
He had his own pitch for the strength of United candidates. Instead of being downtrodden at what would be the end of his political career, Conservatives found him surprisingly energized. Falcon said he didn’t want to be the person who handed the election to the NDP.
Enough progress was made that they all broke so the Conservatives could go to brief Rustad at the party’s new downtown Vancouver office.
Rustad had for months refused to consider any deal with United where it would require him to dismiss candidates he’d previously recruited and were loyal to his party — even if they ended up being revealed to have extreme views on social policies, science and COVID-19 vaccines.
The question he faced now was, would it be worth compromising on that position, and replace a few candidates with United members, if it meant removing the United party off the board entirely for the Oct. 19 election?
Ultimately, he agreed.
Staffers made the calls, and quickly, by 9 p.m. on the same Tuesday, Falcon and Rustad found themselves together in the boardroom of Estey’s law firm, Kazlaw Injury Lawyers, in Vancouver’s downtown financial district, for their first real meeting in two years.
Both leaders had said critical — some might say disparaging — things about each other since Falcon fired Rustad from the United caucus over Rustad’s views about climate science.
But they buried the hatchet in the boardroom, shaking hands.
Falcon said to Rustad: "In all candour, I agree with 75 per cent of things you do. But on your very worst day, you’ll be better than David Eby on his very best day, and I can’t lose sight of the bigger picture here.”
The two leaders sat down with Estey, Isidorou and Elliott to hammer out what eventually became the deal.
United would suspend its provincial campaign, but remain technically a party, with Falcon as leader. It would have to run at least one candidate, in order to satisfy election rules and prevent being deregistered. Falcon would not run in the election, but he would support and help the Conservatives in whatever way the party asked.
On candidates, Rustad and Falcon walked through the provincial map, riding by riding, on spreadsheets, making arguments to one another about candidate strength, experience and incumbents. Some ridings were agreed-upon on the spot (a full list has yet to be made public and party officials won’t confirm which ridings yet until MLAs and candidates accept the positions).
In others, the agreement was to go forward with improved candidate vetting and do more work to select the best person for the riding. Some United incumbents would be offered different ridings than the ones they held. Others might not make the transition at all.
It was a compromise position for both leaders — Rustad moved off his refusal to replace any of his candidates, and Falcon moved off his position to protect all United’s incumbents and strongest candidates.
The final list is still in flux, but Conservatives want it locked down before Labour Day.
The meeting went for almost three hours, with nothing in the boardroom other than glasses of water and piles of paper.
Just before midnight, everyone stood up and shook hands. Falcon and Rustad shook as well, solidifying the agreement. They agreed to go public Wednesday. Falcon drove home to North Vancouver alone.
Wednesday, Falcon pushed the deal through the United party board — though United officials insist this was a mere formality because under the party’s constitution the leader had the power to revoke the party candidates, and he did.
A furious BC United caucus began to find out when Falcon started making calls mid-Wednesday, but by then rumours were swirling and news of the deal had leaked out. Many found out through media calls.
“I felt really blindsided,” said Mike Bernier, the MLA for Peace River South. “By doing that, he basically threw us all out there, just into the wind.”
Bernier helped organize an emergency caucus meeting. For a moment, it looked like the caucus might remove Falcon as leader and try to salvage the party. But the effort quickly lost momentum.
Falcon briefly dialled in to an all-candidates call to try and make the pitch that he was doing what was right for the province, but faced some angry feedback, a call for his resignation, and ultimately hung up.
In the end, the United caucus was unable to stop the move of the board and leader. Its members are now resigned to waiting for calls from the Conservatives on whether they will be offered a spot on the new team.
Meanwhile, Rustad and Falcon met at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre around 2 p.m. in advance of the press conference. Falcon was still making calls to supporters to try and explain his decision, up until the last minute.
The two leaders had a brief moment at a stand-up cocktail table, running over their statements and checking their language with each other.
And then they walked into the Pavilion ballroom together — one man in a stronger position to potentially become premier, and the other with his political reputation in ruins.
As the cameras flashed, Falcon ended his career.
“This is hard,” he said. “It’s really hard. I accept all the responsibility, good and bad … that’s what leadership is all about. But I also believe this: This is the right thing to do for the province of British Columbia.”
Rob Shaw has spent more than 16 years covering ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
