Peter Milobar will be the BC Conservative candidate in Kamloops-Centre in next month’s provincial election.

Milobar, the former Kamloops mayor and current Kamloops-North Thompson MLA who was the BC United candidate in Kamloops-Centre, made the switch Tuesday, following the demise of BC United last week.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Milobar who had been quite critical of the rise of the BC Conservatives, says his ultimate motivation to run for them is to continue representing Kamloops in Victoria and not political opportunism.

“This is not something that was created because I decided to jump because of a poll or anything like that,” Milobar said. “This is because BC United, who I was with until the bitter end, decided they weren’t fielding any candidates in an election.”

“Absolutely I still have some policy differences with the BC Conservatives. Absolutely. I will bring my perspective and my voice around those topics to the caucus table if I’m fortunate enough to be elected.”

Milobar, who was first elected in 2017 as a BC Liberal, says his decision – which was only finalized just hours before the official announcement was made – didn’t come easy.

“I talked with former politicians, both in town and out of town, about how did they find it if they were in a caucus room where they were kind of pushing back maybe a bit,” Milobar added. “Did they feel like they were making a difference or just banging their head against the wall? It was uniform that I should go for it.”

Milobar will be running against Kamal Grewal of the NDP and Randy Sunderman of the BC Green Party in the hopes of becoming the first elected MLA in the new Kamloops-Centre riding.

He’ll replace original BC Conservative Candidate, Dennis Giesbrecht, who rather than being sidelined completely is being parachuted into the nearby riding of Vernon-Lumby.

“I committed to John [Rustad] even last Wednesday when he first reached out that out of respect to Dennis, I wouldn’t be talking publicly [about his decision until it was finalized] because I didn’t want to undermine Dennis’ campaign locally,” Milobar said.

“He had earned the right to be a candidate but these again are hard decisions all the way around. I’m sure it was a hard decision for Dennis to think about running in Vernon instead.”

Joining Milobar on the BC Conservative slate Tuesday were two other BC United MLAs – Ian Paton in Delta South and Trevor Halford in Surrey-White Rock.

The trio are the first BC United MLAs to officially switch to the Conservatives since Kevin Falcon reshaped the B.C. political landscape last Wednesday, a move which Conservative Leader John Rustad described as a sign of “growing momentum” among conservatives to unite against the BC NDP and Premier David Eby.

Milobar’s decision came hours after long-time Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart announced she would not be seeking re-election. Unlike Kamloops-South Thompson Todd Stone, who is also not seeking re-election, Tegart did not endorse any candidate or party ahead of the Oct. 19 election.