The Conservative Party of BC’s caucus was sworn in today in Victoria.
That included two Kamloops Members of the Legislative Assembly set to represent Kamloops.
Kamloops North-Thompson MLA Ward Stamer is among the record 56 rookie MLA-elects. He says there has been a lot going on for him sie the election took place on October 19th. “I’m busy, as we talked about, you know, I’ve got five municipalities and six First Nation bands in our riding and between answering all the emails and reaching out and people still calling us to me personally, when we don’t even have a consistency office up and running yet. It’s been fun.”
“We have a full week. Swearing in on Tuesday, then we’ve got MLA school, so back to school for me, and they’re going to be going through a whole bunch of things that we’ve already been doing on Zoom meetings. We’ll have an opportunity to meet other members in the legislature and then get a feel for what we’re going to be doing when we get called back to the legislature.”
Stamer joins the provincial political ranks after spending six years as they Mayor of Barriere. One thing he is not looking forward to is some of the number of meetings he is likely to participate in. “I know there’s going to be a lot of meetings. I’ve never been a meeting person in as much as that I don’t like to have a meeting to schedule a meeting for another meeting. I’m not like that. I’d like to get to the bottom of it and try to come to a consensus and move forward. And I know that’s going to be a bit of a learning curve when we go through some of the committees and some of the other things that we have to do, but I’m certainly looking forward to the opportunity to get to the next level.”
MLA elect for Kamloops Centre Peter Milobar was sworn in as well. After spending two terms under the BC Liberal/BC United Party banner, he is now serving as a member of the BC Conservatives. He knows he will be leaned on for the experience he brings to the table. “There’s a lot of experience within the eight of us that are incumbents. I think we’ll all do our part and certainly help people where advice maybe is asked for or needed. But also, you have to let people find their own voice and their own style. To be authentic to them and represent their constituents in a way that best reflects that. So, it’s really just trying to help help people through that process as well as some of the more procedural things within the legislature itself.”
Milobar says there is always something a little bit different about the swearing in process each time. “So my first one, I was only one of 10 of 40 plus MLAs (in his caucus) that we’re new. This time, there’s 36 new and only eight of us that have had done this before. And only a few of us have actually done the swearing in in person, because in 2020 of course, our family and friends weren’t allowed there due to COVID, and so a different experience for everybody and and looking forward to to the energy and the excitement.”
NDP MLA’s are set to be sworn in on Wednesday.
The 47 New Democrats, including Premier David Eby, are enough to give the party a one-seat majority in the legislature, pending recounts.
Of the NDP’s new caucus, 29 are returning members of the legislature, and 18 are newly elected.
