STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

BC MLA Teresa Wat says quitting BC United and joining B.C. Conservatives to beat NDP

Jul 30, 2024 | 1:38 PM

RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — Teresa Wat says quitting the Opposition BC United Party to join John Rustad’s British Columbia Conservatives is the only path available for a free-enterprise coalition to defeat the New Democrats in the fall election.

Wat, an 11-year veteran at the B.C. legislature and a strong multicultural representative of the suburban Vancouver City of Richmond, says getting rid of David Eby’s New Democrats is her top priority and Rustad’s Conservatives offer the best opportunity.

Wat, the fourth BC United member of the legislature to join Rustad, told a news conference today it has become clear to her the B.C. Conservatives are in the best position to defeat the NDP.

She says she was being approached daily by constituents — including while she was at a local pet shop having her cat groomed — to make the right decision to fight the New Democrats.