Former BC United candidate for Cowichan Valley would consider switch to Conservatives
Jon Coleman, former BC United candidate for Cowichan Valley, says he’d consider running for the BC Conservatives, if asked.
In an interview today with sixmountains.ca, Coleman, a member of Cowichan Tribes and owner of Jon-Co Contracting, said he continues to believe he is the best bet to win in Cowichan Valley — not John Koury, the current candidate for the Conservatives.
Coleman said if the Conservatives “were to phone me, and say, ‘we’re going to ask John to step down. Would you consider?’ And then I’d say ‘yes.’ Because it’s one way to defeat the NDP.”
He said he is concerned that if he ran as an independent, that would only split the vote.
Coleman believes that NDP candidate Debra Toporowski, an elected councillor for both Cowichan Tribes and North Cowichan, would win against Koury.
“Look at how many times he has run for how many different things. Right? The proof’s there.
“If you’re looking at it as a business decision, going, ‘Let’s see your past three elections. You haven’t won.’”
Koury placed second behind Rob Douglas in the mayoral race in North Cowichan in 2022. Koury also lost in a bid for North Cowichan council in 2018 and in a mayoral bid in 2014. He was elected to North Cowichan council in 2008 and 2011.
sixmountains.ca has reached out to Koury for comment.
Toporowski will be on leave from North Cowichan council Sept. 5 to Oct. 25 while she runs for provincial office.
Coleman added that with BC United coming into Conservative leader John Rustad’s political camp, that could have a moderating influence on the party’s policies.
Rustad has “zig-zagged across British Columbia and now that he has a big tent I think he’s going to have to consider those values again,” Coleman added.
(Photos: Jon Coleman, John Koury).
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