Meet the Extreme, Far-Right BC Conservative Candidates Who Are Now Legislators Following BC’s Wild Election

British Columbia’s 2024 provincial election is still up in the air after a rollercoaster election night that saw neither the BC NDP nor the BC Conservatives secure enough seats to form a majority government.

The final outcome of BC’s election will not be clear for over a week with results in several key ridings separated by less than a few hundred votes. Those results could potentially flip after final ballots are counted and mandatory recounts are conducted.

What is clear is that the results represent a major political realignment in BC. The BC Conservatives, a far-right party previously relegated to the fringes of BC politics, received only 1% of the vote and held no seats after the previous election in 2020.

But on the morning after election night in 2024, the BC Conservatives received more than 43% of the vote and won at least 40 seats.

Many of the newly elected BC Conservative MLAs who will be heading to Victoria, where they will be given the power to vote to pass and repeal laws, are individuals who were sources of major controversy during the campaign over extreme, conspiratorial and in some cases bigoted views.

Here’s a closer look at who got elected:

Global BC is projecting a winner for Surrey South.
READ MORE: https://t.co/MamyleybCy#bcelxn #bcpoli #bcelection pic.twitter.com/G5x924VwyO

— Global BC (@GlobalBC) October 20, 2024

Brent Chapman, the new BC Conservative MLA in Surrey South, has been one of the most controversial and extreme candidates to emerge during the recent election campaign.

Chapman, a character actor best known for minor roles in films like Freddy Versus Jason and the The Lizzie McGuire Movie, was repeatedly hammered for past comments accusing Muslims of inbreeding, comparing public health policies to the Nazi Holocaust and making statements questioning whether mass shootings in Sandy Hook and Quebec City really happened.

Chapman, who also faced scrutiny for posting anti-refugee content and content instructing critics of Donald Trump on how to “kill themselves,” also appeared on a podcast where the host claimed residential schools are a “massive fraud” and also referenced conspiracy theories revolving around the United Nations.

In that interview a month before the election, Chapman estimated “there are probably 45, maybe 50, ‘Freedom People’ that are running for this party” and criticized the media for portraying them as “wack jobs.”

Chapman went into hiding in the final days of the election campaign. When a Global News TV crew tried to interview him, Chapman hid in a small room while his campaign staff accused journalists of trespassing.

With a growing list of controversial social media posts, a Surrey BC Conservative candidate evaded Global News at his campaign office. Tonight on Global News Hour at 6, @GraceKeGlobal tries to speak with Brent Chapman.

READ MORE: https://t.co/X8dCsfMJBT pic.twitter.com/WhdWEHFcSk

— Global BC (@GlobalBC) October 15, 2024

Another newly elected BC Conservative MLA, Jordan Kealy (Peace River North), has repeatedly posted about chemtrails on his social media accounts. One post from his farm’s Facebook page warned of a supposed “government plan to eat bugs,” “control the weather” and “spray things in the air,” which was accompanied by photos of vapour trails from commercial airplanes.

One day before the election, Kealy responded to a post on Facebook asking if he was going to “stop the chemtrails” by suggesting the issue falls under “federal jurisdiction.”

Unbelievable. Jordan Kealy is pushing a chem trail conspiracy ***today***

Rustad and his candidates are still actively spreading bizarre misinformation. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iErVw9gAKs

— Ravi Kahlon (@KahlonRav) October 18, 2024

While it’s so far too early to call the results in Kelowna Centre, the leading candidate Kristina Loewen has also been prolific in sharing conspiratorial content in a Facebook group called “Reject NWO (New World Order) BS,” including references to conspiracies about 15 minute cities, the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.

Other newly elected BC Conservative MLAs have been outspoken views on vaccines.

One MLA, Tara Armstrong (Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream), claimed a medical doctor who was encouraging the public to get vaccinated was “bought and paid for by big pharma” and a “total fraud.”

BC United opposition research dossier

Staying on the topic of medical credentials, BC Conservative MLA Jody Toor (Langley-Willowbrook) came under fire during the campaign for falsely presenting herself as a medical doctor despite having no medical license or being registered with the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Toor is now the subject of a complaint brought by the Hospital Employees’ Union, which is calling on the College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC to launch a formal investigation. According to the Langley Advance Times, Toor’s degrees came from an unaccredited online university based in Hawaii.

One newly-elected BC Conservative candidate who is a doctor, Anna Kindy (North Island), has participated in far-right, convoy-adjacent rallies outside the offices of the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons with a group known for opposing public health measures and promoting far-right conspiracies.

Kindy has been featured as a speaker multiple appearances at an annual conference featuring key individuals and influencers involved in the Freedom Convoy, Maxime Bernier’s PPC and far-right politics in Canada where she extolled the benefits of natural immunity over “leaky” COVID-19 vaccines.

Another BC Conservative candidate of a medical background, Marina Sapozhnikov, finished election night 23 votes behind with one poll left in Juan de Fuca-Malahat to be counted — Sapozhnikov attended a rally organized by the same group, where she compared public health measures to life under communism in the Soviet Union.

BC Conservative candidate Anna Kindy at 2022 anti-vaccine protest (Rebel Media)

Speaking of the PPC, three new BC Conservative MLAs Macklin McCall (West Kelowna-Peachland), Larry Neufeld (Peace River South) and Dallas Brodie (Vancouver-Quilchena) are past donors to the far-right party known for welcoming bigots, conspiracy theorists and other so-called “heterodox” thinkers with views far outside the mainstream.

According to Elections Canada records, McCall’s name is listed as making a $250 donation to the PPC in 2020 while Brodie’s name is associated with $3,350 in donations to the PPC in 2022. Donation records list Neufeld’s name as having donated $400 to the PPC in 2021 along with another $400 to Bernier’s Beauce riding association in 2022.

The BC Conservatives did not respond to questions from PressProgress about the donations.

Source: BC Conservatives

A number of newly elected BC Conservative MLAs have strong opinions about US politics.

Sharon Hartwell (Bulkley Valley-Stikine), the former mayor of a small village in northern BC who upset high profile BC NDP cabinet minister Nathan Cullen, is a Donald Trump supporter a 2020 US election denier, posting unsubstantiated messages online agreeing that “Democrats cheated” and “Donald Trump won the last election.”

In Surrey-Panorama, former RCMP officer Bryan Tepper was elected as a BC Conservative MLA.

Tepper is a member of an anti-vaccine convoy group called Police On Guard For Thee and has posted that the January 6 insurrection was a “lie” – despite the deaths of five Capitol police officers which have been linked to January 6.

BC United opposition research dossier

Ditto for new BC Conservative MLA Harman Bhangu (Langley-Abbotsford), who tweeted promoting a widely debunked far-right conspiracy falsely claiming January 6 insurrectionists were actually undercover members of “Antifa.”

“Antifa broke into the Capitol on Jan 6 too,” Bhangu wrote. “If you read the Jan 6 report you would know antifa dressed up as Trump supporters and broke in.”

BC United opposition research dossier

Bhangu has also made anti-LGBTQ+ statements. In another tweet, Bhangu agreed with a tweet from failed BC Conservative candidate Paul Ratchford criticizing the Vancouver Canucks for wearing Pride-themed practice jerseys because it supposedly endorses “violent antisocial trans extremists.”

“Exactly,” Bhangu tweeted. “There’s nothing to be proud of.”

Social conservative, and specifically anti-LGBTQ+, views are another streak that run through the newly elected BC Conservative caucus.

Earlier this year, Rosalyn Bird (Prince George-Valemount) shared a Rebel Media video from an account called “Anti Woke Canadian” that describes Pride supporters as “groomers” and claims the government wants to “castrate kids.”

BC United opposition research dossier

Another BC Conservative MLA with ties to social conservative groups is Heather Maahs (Chilliwack North). According to The Tyee, Maahs has promoted anti-abortion events and publicly declared herself “pro-life.”

In northern BC, Sheldon Clare (Prince George-North Cariboo), the former President of a right-wing gun lobby group called the National Firearms Association was elected.

Under Clare’s leadership, the NFA was a source of controversy over its response to shootings that killed three RCMP officers in New Brunswick. During the campaign, Clare came under fire by First Nations leaders who described his historical revisionist views on residential schools and attempts to question the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as “outrageous, disgusting and very, very sad.”

Managing a caucus that looks like this will be no easy task, but doubly so for BC Conservative leader John Rustad (Nechako Lakes) who will have little high ground to stand on when it comes to reeling in the zanier elements of his caucus.

During the election campaign, we learned Rustad:

• Disputes basic science on climate change
• Regrets getting vaccinated for COVID-19
• Thinks BC Premier David Eby is a “communist”
• Suggested British Columbia should participate in “Nuremberg”-style COVID-19 trials to prosecute doctors, politicians, journalists and police
• Worries that the United Nations wants “kids to eat bugs”

VIDEO: BC Conservative leader John Rustad warned convoy event about kids being forced to ‘eat bugs’

Rustad delivered the conspiratorial speech at a far-right event celebrating the Freedom Convoy in 2023:https://t.co/zz2j4J5xXV #bcpoli #bcexln pic.twitter.com/OrpMd38CCC

— PressProgress (@pressprogress) September 24, 2024

Whatever the final outcome of the election, one thing is for sure: Keeping his caucus in line will now become a full-time job for the party’s future whip.

Perhaps who better for the job than Brent Chapman himself – after all, Chapman has proven he knows how to keep quiet and stay out-of-sight plus he could rely on tips from his spouse, federal Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who currently serves as Pierre Poilievre’s party whip.